10.10 - Extended and Mixed Metaphors

We started today's class with everyone choosing an activity card from my collection of dog-centered activity cards. Then, everyone wrote descriptions of that card using as much figurative language as they could. Different types of figurative language were worth different amounts of "points" and everyone was trying to see how many points they could get in using figurative language to describe the dog card. The point breakdown was as follows:

Simile: +1
Metaphor: +1
Ironic Simile: +2
Implied Metaphor: +2
Extended Metaphor: +3
Mixed Metaphor: +4

Everyone had five minutes to generate as many descriptions of their dog picture as they could using figurative language. People then shared their descriptions with a partner to verify and tally their total number of points. We then had several people share out the descriptions that they came up with in their writing.

Next, we narrowed our focus in on extended and mixed metaphor since these two uses of figurative language proved difficult to people. Several people who were comfortable with these types of metaphor shared examples and we talked about how to write extended and mixed metaphors. The outline boils down to this:

Extended metaphor is a metaphor that keeps on going.
To start, make a comparison between a literal subject (love) and a figurative one (a rose):

My love is a rose.

Then, keep the comparison going to between your literal subject (love) and figurative subject (rose):

My love is a rose that is lifting it's petals to the sunshine and setting down roots in the soil.

The above example connects "love" to a rose in three ways, the initial comparison, petals, and roots.

Mixed metaphor is an extended metaphor that keeps comparing the literal subject to different figurative subjects.

My love is a rose that roars and shines brightly in the universe.

In the example above, "love" is compared to a rose, a lion (or other animal that roars), and a sun.

Next, we had the set 4 roots and prefix quiz.

Handouts:
Figurative Language handout
Practice with Simile and Metaphor

Homework:

Write a short story (half a page to a full page) titled, "A Day that Was Supposed to be Normal" in which you use simile and metaphor in as many ways as possible throughout the story.

On Tuesday we will share and analyze these.

If you were struggling with extended and mixed metaphor, complete those sections on the Practice with Simile and Metaphor sheet.