Literal Imagery - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Literal Imagery

NotesSlide2

Literal

means straight forward or factual. It is the dictionary meaning of the word.

Denotation:

the explicit or direct meaning or set of meanings of a word or expression, as distinguished from the ideas or meanings associated with it or suggested by it.

Eg., A house is a building in which people live.

When someone says, “I mean that literally”, they mean “exactly”, just the facts.

Term:

Allusion:

A reference to someone or something that is known from history, literature, religion, politics, sports, science, or some other branch of culture.Slide3

Sojourner Truth ~ “Ain’t I a Woman?”

That man over there say

a woman needs to be helped into carriages

and lifted over ditches

and to have the best place everywhere.

Nobody ever helped me into carriages

or over mud puddles

or gives me a best place.

And ain't I a woman?

Look at me

Look at my arm!

I have plowed and planted

and gathered into barns

and no man could head me…

And ain't I a woman?

I could work as much

and eat as much as a man — 

when I could get to it — 

and bear the lash as well

and ain't I a woman?

I have born 13 children

and seen most all sold into slavery

and when I cried out a mother's grief

none but Jesus heard me...

And ain't I a woman?

That little man in black there say

a woman can't have as much rights as a man

cause Christ wasn't a woman

Where did your Christ come from?

From God and a woman!

Man had nothing to do with him!

If the first woman God ever made

was strong enough to turn the world

upside down, all alone

together women ought to be able to turn it

rightside up again.Slide4

“Ain’t I a Woman” Questions

1 - Who is the “man” to which the author refers?

6 - What is the author alluding to: “Or over mud puddles”?

10 - What does Sojourner mean when she writes, “I have plowed and planted”?

12 - Explain the line, “And no man could head me”?

24 - Who is the “little man in black?”

28-29 - To what famous moment is Sojourner alluding

30 - 32 - To what other famous moments is Sojourner alluding?

33-34 - What “call to action” is Sojourner putting forth?Slide5

Charles

Bukowski

“The Man with the Beautiful Eyes”

Handout: Read together

animation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW12Ealvj0sSlide6

Figurative Imagery

NotesSlide7

Figurative Language

is deliberate exaggeration; when a speaker says something that they do not literally mean.

Traditionally, figurative language falls into four specific categories:

1.

Hyperbole:

A very strong exaggeration

Eg:

He is stronger than ten giants

2.

Simile:

A comparison between two objects using the words “like” or “as”

Eg:

She sings like a nightingale

3.

Metaphor:

A comparison between two objects (without “like” or “as”)

Eg.

Helen is an angel

4.

Personification:

Gives an inhuman thing human qualities

Eg.

The sunrise was jealous of her lovelinessSlide8

Connotation:

an idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning

Eg., House: family, warmth, love, protection, safety.

Figurative language encourages us to use our imagination.

Eg.,:

I’m like a farmer, plantin’ words, people are seeds.

My truth is the soil; help you grow like trees.

(Nas)

Question:

What is Nas implying here?Slide9

Hyperbole:

Overstatement for effect, exaggeration

Eg.,

“

I pulled up with a million trucks - looking, smellin’, feelin’ like a million bucks”

(Ludacris)

People often use exaggeration to make their point strong and clear. In the example above, he did not literally have a million bucks, he is boasting about his status and how good he feels.Slide10

We

commonly use hyperbole:

I nearly died laughing

I knocked on the door a million times

I’m dying of starvation

Classic Hyperbole:

I love thee with the breath, smiles, tears, of all my life!

(Elizabeth Browning)

This little world of mine has lost its light

(Dorothy Parker)

A robin redbreast is a cage/ Sets all heaven in a rage.

(William Blake)

1. Does she LITERALLY love with her breath, smiles and tears?

2. Has the world LITERALLY lost its light?

3. Is ALL of heaven LITERALLY in a rage?Slide11

Hip-Hop Hyperbole :)

A lot of MCs today really know how to please, but I gave birth to most of them MCs.

(Roxanne Shante)

My mom’s words echo in my head and if I let go I’m dead.

(Nas)

I can roast an MC like a barbecue.

(Big Daddy Kane)

Can any of this LITERALLY happen? Let’s be real…Slide12

Imagery:

The use of language to evoke a picture or a concrete sensation of a person, a thing, a place or an experience.

“Harlem: A Dream Deferred” ~ by Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up

like a raisin in the sun

Or fester like a sore -

And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over -

Like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags

like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?Slide13

Questions about “A Dream Deferred”

1. What is the theme of this poem? Another way of thinking about theme is questioning the author’s

intention.

2. Identify how Hughes uses imagery for all five senses in his poem.

Sight:

Taste:

Touch:

Smell:

Sound:

3. How does the sum total of all the imagery add up to answering the question put forth by the speaker in the line, “what happens to a dream deferred”?

4. What is the unspoken message Hughes is telling the reader about going after their own dreams?Slide14

Imagery Continued…

Juicy

~ by Notorious B.I.G.

It was all a dream

I used to read Word Up magazine

Salt'n'Pepa and Heavy D up in the limousine

Hangin' pictures on my wall

Every Saturday Rap Attack, Mr. Magic, Marley Marl

Now honies play me close like butter played toast

From the Mississippi down to the east coast

…

Sold out seats to hear Biggie Smalls speak

Livin' life without fear

Puttin' 5 karats in my baby girl's ear

Lunches, brunches, interviews by the pool

Considered a fool 'cause I dropped out of high school

Stereotypes of a black male misunderstood

And it's still all good

We used to fuss when the landlord dissed us

No heat, wonder why Christmas missed us

Birthdays was the worst days

Now we sip champagne when we thirst-ay

Uh, damn right I like the life I live

'Cause I went from negative to positive

And it's all good… Slide15

“Juicy” Questions:

1. What are the commonalities between Langston Hughes’ “A Dream Deferred” and Biggie’s “Juicy”?

2. 16 - Why are birthdays the worse days? Why do you think he felt this way?

3. What images does he use to evoke images of the poverty endured prior to achieving Hip-Hop fame?

4. What images does he use to evoke images of the rewards of wealth and Hip-Hop fame in the reader’s mind?Slide16

Writing Exercise: Imagery

1.

Create a column for each of your five senses

:

Touch:

Taste:

Smell:

Sight:

Sound:

2. I have given you each a piece of paper with an object on it.

Write down your perceptions of the object by filling in the blanks for your five senses

. Be vivid, colourful, abstract, literal etc.

3.

Write an additional line of description adding the sixth component of emotion

. How do you feel about the object? Does it remind you of something (like a relative, a special time, childhood)?

4.

Use the material above to write a poem about your object.

Make it as long or short as you wish. Use rhyme, free verse, personification, etc but be sure to use ALL the material above.

5. Give your poem a

titleSlide17

Example:

Object poem (Light Bulb)

“Just Give Me the Light”

Smooth is my bulb

Tastes hot like electricity

Smells like smokey possibility

Ruler of Light

Gives my home sight

Sound like a buzz

we shut off every nightSlide18

Imagism

Show

the subject by creating an ‘image’ --

not a description

, but a

unique way of seeing

this thing or momentSlide19

In a station of the Metro

Ezra Pound

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;

Petals on a wet, black bough. Slide20

Imagery Examples

:Slide21

The Calm

John Gould Fletcher

At noon I shall see waves flashing,

White power of spray.

The steamers, stately,

Kick up white puffs of spray behind them.

The boiling wake

Merges in the blue-black mirror of the seaSlide22

The City

Langston Hughes

In the morning the city

Spreads its wings

Making a song

In stone that sings.

In the evening the city

Goes to bed

Hanging lights

Above its head.Slide23

Literal- a person, place, event

Concrete-

free of ideas, symbols, metaphors

Compressed-

free of superfluous wording

Dramatic -

something is at stake

Urgent -

it needs to be said!Slide24

He loved three things alone by

Anna

Akhmatova

He

loved three things alone:

White peacocks, evensong,

Old maps of America.

He hated children crying,

And raspberry jam with his tea,

And womanish hysteria

. . . And he had married me.Slide25

Literal Examples

Auto

Mirror ~ Adam

Zagajewski

In the rear-view mirror suddenly

I saw the bulk of the Beauvais Cathedral;

great things dwell in small ones

for a moment.Slide26

The Birds Have Vanished

Li

Po

The

birds have vanished into the sky,

and now the last cloud drains away

We sit together, the mountain and me,

until only the mountain remains.