4.3 Writer's Workshop: Poetry: Imagery in Poetry

4.3 Writer's Workshop: Poetry

Similes and Metaphors

Writers use a number of different techniques to create imagery in their poems. Two of the most common ways are by adding similes and metaphors.

Simile is the easier one to spot. It nearly always includes the word like or as. Many examples of simile have slipped into our everyday language: cool as a cucumber, smart like a fox, and neat as a pin (though, really, what’s so neat about a pin?).

Metaphor does not use like or as. It is more direct. It implies that one thing IS the other, not just like it.

Observe the differences between the following paired examples.

Metaphor: The sea is a plate of glass.

Simile: The sea was smooth as a plate of glass.

Metaphor: She had diamonds for eyes

Simile: Her eyes sparkled like diamonds.

Personification

Another device that poets use to create imagery is personification. Personification gives human qualities to things that aren’t human.

e.g.,

The wind stroked her white curls.

Obviously wind can’t stroke a girl’s hair, but it’s an interesting image for a poem, isn’t it? The poem is much more creative and interesting than it would have been if the poet had just said, The wind blew the girl’s hair around her face.

Personification is easy to spot in a poem. Just look for the non-human thing that is described with human qualities.