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| Grammar | Syntax/Writing | Punctuation | Vocabulary | Pronunciation | ESL Station | |
Part IV: Figurative Language: Personification, Simile, and Metaphor
Writers use figures of speech to breathe life into their writing. Figures of speech are actually comparisons, either direct or implied. There are three distinct figures of speech:
1. Personification involves giving human characteristics such as personality, intelligence, and emotions to animals or inanimate things, making it seem as if they speak, think, act, or feel like a person does.
2. A Simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two things that are seemingly not alike yet have some similar characteristic. A simile always uses the word like or as to make the comparison.
Example: Cold air rode freely among the savage hills, coming face to face with the people of Jolomk'u. (People ride freely, can be savage and have a face.)
Example: Soon the dark contours of the high mountains appeared like giants in the night . (The mountain peaks are compared to giants. Both are large and looming.)
3. A metaphor is a figure of speech that implies a comparison between two things that aren't normally considered to be alike. Unlike a simile, a metaphor does not use a comparing word such as like or as. Implied comparisons (metaphors) can be a verb, a noun, an adjective, or an adverb.
Example: It all began when the gods inscribed their great signs on the stelae of time. (The passage of time - or human history - is compared to a monument (stele) on which something is inscribed.)
Review Activity: "A Mayan Life" is replete with figurative language. Read the following sentences, some of which have multiple figures of speech, and identify each figure of speech as an example of personification, simile, or metaphor. Write capital P, S, or M respectively in the blank before each sentence. Use capital letters.
1. Jolomk'u was a colorful village, woven Tapestries are woven with colorful threads, which together can make up a beautiful work of art, just as the community of Jolomk'u comprises the sum of the lives, hopes, and dreams of the villagers. with the work of men and women, with their lives, illusions, and failures.
2. It seemed that Ajaw's hands had lost the ability to sculpt on indecipherable stelae.
3. The moon, like a great eye in the night,... came sailing over dark waves ... of sleepy
4. The moon shone its great gaze
5. It tried to pull aside on the sleeping landscape.
6. The night closed the sheepfold and then opened the door to stars flying toward the great heights like thousands of fireflies
7. The men lit their pine slivers in the huts, until the village was full of the spattering of smoking firebrands that made the crickets cry
8. A chorus of dogs barked, intoning their protests against the unannounced strange rustling noises of the nawales, the local evil spirits, coming out to prowl
9. Lotaxh was alone in the house, in a cold sweat, the drops rainstorm.
10. Mekel ran like a deer
11. A dog barked lazily
12. Lotaxh, with strong arms like a grinding stone
13. On one side the fire was like an eye slowly shutting an ashen lid.
14. The chickens complained
15. In the lulls between waves of pain
to intervene
in intervals she pondered, "My God, I hope that the fox's howl I heard this morning isn't a bad omen."
16. Unraveling like a skein of thread
17. The laboring woman's strength was waning,
18. A candle hanging from the sooty walls flickered, begging for more fuel, before it was swallowed up by the invading
19. Her pale face was like a tender avocado 
Note the color of this particular avocado leaf from Latin America. Her face most likely looked ashen like this and red from the strain of labor. leaf.
20. The steam rose from Mekel's body through the holes in his shirt like the vapors of the sweat bath
21. Specters with unpleasant faces
22. Mekel hunkered down to listen to the night tiptoeing like the brook that ran beside his house.
23. A cry shattered the great silence, crashing against Mekel's pricked-up ears
24. The cry ran through the nerve centers
25. Ewul's firm hands were used to holding the naked first fruit
26. She formed the head, giving it a round shape like a lump of clay
27. She blew three breaths that came from the roots of Ewul's lungs, drawn from the root of time like a symbol
The Mayan child is rooted in his cultural heritage from the moment of birth. of the life and the inheritance of the ancestors.
28. The cry went snaking among the huts, and withdrew into distant time, searching out its origins
The common tie to the ancestors is the thread that holds the community together. in his first ancestor's initial cry of pain.
29. The others had settled down to sleep where they could, warming the stretch of cold earth under their ribs with the weight of their tiredness, like a daily rehearsal
The metaphor and the simile both suggest a difficult lifestyle and a familiarity with death. for death and intimate union with the earth.
30. Next to the fire he warmed his thoughts like swaddling clothes to wrap his firstborn
The Verb to swaddle comes from Middle English and means to wrap or envelop. Thoughts of his newborn son enveloped Mekel's mind. Being poor they swaddled their infant with whatever they had to wrap him in. .
31. A large firecracker had announced
The sound of the firecracker is the "announcement." The use of the verb "announced" is metaphorical. the birth.
32. Smiles blossomed on those faces,... teeth showing like white corn
The metaphor and the simile are very well chosen because flowers and corn would be a part of any Mayan celebration. , breaking out in the laughter of the collective joy.
The End!
