Tag Archives: metaphorical analysis

2/7/2017

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Since I taught you what I wanted on the Metaphorical Response yesterday, today was just a “shut up and work day.”

A few things I noticed today:

  • If you are still working on the Foil Flip Doll, you need to move on! We spent two class days on this, so if you worked on it today as well, that means you have spent over THREE HOURS on this. That is just ONE PART of a four (technically five) part project.
  • Please work on the Metaphorical Response today so that you at least know what you are doing if you have to work on this on your own.
  • Focus on the connection part the most – this is where I can see your thought process.

If you are struggling, please look at the examples that I have posted for you. Remember that I don’t mind if you share characteristics with your table buddies, but I don’t want to just to share the symbols or metaphors. If you have a great idea, don’t just give it away!

2/6/2017

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We started out today by playing a few rounds of Tribond. What do the following three things have in common? (I’ll be asking you about these images in Tuesday!)

Then I went over the Metaphorical Analysis with you guys. Remember – think of UNLIKE symbols or comparisons. Don’t say that Iago is a backstabber because he IS a backstabber. Don’t say that Desdemona is faithful – that’s not a comparison. Try to avoid animals – that’s fairly basic.

If you get stuck, see if this is helpful:

  • If *character name* were food, what would he/she be?
  • If *character name* were a car, what would he/she be?
  • If *character name* were a toy, what would he/she be?
  • If *character name* were a plant, what would he/she be?
  • If *character name* were a technological gadget, what would he/she be?
  • If *character name* were a color, what would he/she be?
  • If *character name* were an element of nature, what would he/she be?
  • If *character name* were a chemical element, what would he/she be?
  • If *character name* were a medicine, what would he/she be?
  • If *character name* were a candy, what would he/she be?
  • If *character name* were a thing you can buy at Wal-Mart, what would he/she be?

Focus on characteristics of the character – either brainstorm on your own or in your group. I don’t mind you sharing the same characteristics, but I don’t want you to share the same SYMBOL. So you may all use the idea that Iago can’t be trusted, but I don’t want to see 14 papers with “Iago is a snake.” The creative thinking here is coming up with your OWN metaphor, so try to think of something that NO ONE ELSE will think of!

So far, some of my favorite metaphors have come from Shelton!

Here are the Reflection Questions for the Metaphorical Analysis:

Metaphorical Analysis

  • What did you do?
  • What was the purpose behind doing it?
  • What was the most difficult piece of this project? Creating metaphors? Explaining your choices? Finding quotes?
  • Which metaphor are you most proud of?
  • Who is the most realistic character in the play? Who is the least realistic? Use at least one embedded quote (please just use one of the quotes from your project for this) to back this idea up.

1/29/2015 – A

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We started out making a foldable – just making it. We will add little bits to it each day after we read.

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Today we started reading Beowulf. We will read just one section a day, so that means if you find the poem boring (I didn’t write it – it doesn’t hurt my feelings!), I won’t commit readicide on you by making you read for all 80 minutes of class. You can thank me later.

Today, we skimmed the background notes and read The Wrath of Grendel.

We spent some time talking about mead, the mead hall, and Bass Shandy soda.

If you weren’t here, you missed watching me jump on desk growling and you missed me harassing students with “Grendel”. Read this on your own and be familiar with it.

Then, we played a game called Tribond. We were given 3 different pictures of unrelated objects and we had to figure out what they all three had in common. If you liked playing this game, here is a new puzzle for each day!

Then, I explained why we played that game: the Metaphorical Response! A metaphor is a comparison between two UNLIKE things.

From Metaphor Examples:

A metaphor is a comparison between two unlike things not using the word “like” or “as” to make the comparison.  The greater the difference between the two things being compared, the better the metaphor. For example, if one were to say that “Football is baseball,” that would not be a good metaphor, because football and baseball are both sports.  However, if one were to say that “football is chess,” that would generally be considered a better metaphor because there is a greater difference between football and chess than football and baseball.

That webpage has fifty good examples of metaphors, like this: The typical teenage boy’s room is a disaster area.

So, you’ll be finding a metaphor for the ten elements on the worksheet and explaining it. If you need help, check out the example in BB.

You only need to have ONE quote – not two or three like the example shows.

Just make sure that you use good metaphors.

For example (and don’t use this one), Grendel is nasty. No one likes him. No one wants him around, but no one can stop him.

Column 1:  Grendel is like a SBD (silent but deadly fart).

Column 2: SBD farts are silent and sneak up on you. They are very powerful, and take down everyone within sniffing zone. The only way you can survive a SBD is if you run away! Not only are they silent, but you can’t see them.

Column 3: Grendel is very strong, and no one can defeat him. No one likes him, no one wants him around, but no one can figure out how to deal with him or get rid of him. Anyone who goes up against him, is destroyed. Just like a SBD, the only way you can survive an attack with Grendel is if you run away. Because Grendel hunts at night and the only survivors are those who flee, no one has ever seen Grendel, either!

Column 4: One quote that proves your comparison. Since we used a PDF file for Beowulf, you can’t copy and paste, so you’ll need to type it manually.

We also talked a little about what the name Beowulf means. This is what I found: