FIGURATIVE WRITING (Intro)

Figurative language is a descriptive way of writing which helps the reader to imagine a picture of the subject or scene, and to bring out the readers emotions.

 There are many different ways to do this by:

 All of these techniques make a piece of writing more interesting to read and to relate to.

I have explained each of these individually in greater detail under their own title, including their definition, as well as offering  some suggestions of ways to help children (and beginners) to recognise these techniques and attempt to use them in their poetry and general writing.  However,  I have to admit to being nervous about getting too ‘heavy’ and ‘studious’ about this because of my own reaction to this amount of detail when I first started writing.  Whilst I have a natural enjoyment of poetry I do remember being ‘scared off’ a little when it started to get too serious and technical, as it felt a bit overwhelming, and I would hate for too much emphasis on the names of techniques to have this effect on children.  However, the Primary National Curriculum  (see En2 Reading, Section 4  .)  states that children should be taught about the “use and effect of figurative language”.  Figurative writing can make an enormous difference to a poem, and understanding this effect will help the children to know how to improve their writing.

 Even now, I go back over the first poems that I wrote and tweak them with the newfound understanding I have:  I know that I would not have got the same pleasure from them, nor had the same pride in them, if I’d noticed the imperfections originally!  However, with practice and time I have begun to use different elements of figurative language more automatically and naturally, and find myself wanting to know more as I progress, and I have found poetry to have the same hook for children as it has for me.  In other words, if you can encourage a child to ‘catch the bug’ and find the fun in poetry, they will be keen to be introduced to different techniques to improve their style as they go along, rather than aiming for perfection too soon.

When you have looked at the teaching on each element of figurative language, look in the poem menu above to find examples of my poems  which demonstrate each one.  I have written some especially for the purpose of demonstrating one specific element of figurative writing (eg.Alliteration  Al),  with others will include a combination of the different techniques.  I have therefore given each poem an introduction to give some indication of the figurative language within it, and to what extent it is included in the hope that it will be easier to find appropriate poems.

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