Answer Keys for Worksheet 1

Figurative Language Worksheet 1

 

Directions: Read the lines of poetry. Slashes represent line breaks.  Figure out which technique is
being used: simile, metaphor, hyperbole, or personification. In the boxes, explain how you figured out
your answer.  It is possible that more than one technique is being used. If you can, explain each.
1. Like burnt-out torches by a sick man's bed
Which technique is being used? simile
2. Drip-hiss-drip-hiss fall the raindrops / on the oaken log which burns, and steams,
and smokes the ceiling beams.  / Drip-hiss-the rain never stops.
Which technique is being used? hyperbole
3. When the stars threw down their spears, / And water'd heaven with their tears,
Which technique is being used? personification
4. The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
     The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
Which technique is being used? metaphor
5. I do not care to talk to you although / Your speech evokes a thousand sympathies,
 

Which technique is being used? hyperbole

6. The sun was shining on the sea, / Shining with all his might:
 

Which technique is being used? personification

7. The leaves are little yellow fish / swimming in the river.
 

Which technique is being used? metaphor

8. The old clock down in the parlor / Like a sleepless mourner grieves,
 

Which technique is being used? simile / personification

9. By the lakes that thus outspread / Their lone waters, lone and dead / Their sad
waters, sad and chilly
 

Which technique is being used? personification

10. Fame is a bee. / It has a song -- / It has a sting --
Which technique is being used? metaphor

Figurative Language Worksheet 2

 

Directions: Read the lines of poetry. Slashes represent line breaks.  Figure out which technique is
being used: simile, metaphor, hyperbole, or personification. In the boxes, explain how you figured out
your answer. It is possible that more than one technique is being used. If you can, explain each.
 
1. He would write, but his hours are as busy / As bees in the sun,
Which technique is being used? simile
2. My words are little jars / For you to take and put upon a shelf.
 Their shapes are quaint and beautiful, / And they have many pleasant colors and
lusters
 
Which technique is being used? metaphor
3. All round the house is the jet-black night; / It stares through the window-pane;
 It crawls in the corners, hiding from the light,
 
Which technique is being used? personification
 
 
4. Oh, never, if I live to a million, / Shall I feel such a grievous pain.
 
Which technique is being used? hyperbole
 
 
5. But words are things, and a small drop of ink, / Falling, like dew, upon a thought
produces
 
Which technique is being used? simile
 
 
6. And then my heart with pleasure fills, / And dances with the daffodils.
 
Which technique is being used? personification
 
 
7. Sifted through the grass were daisies, / Open-mouthed, wondering, they gazed at
the sun.
 
Which technique is being used? personification
 
 
8. With processions long and winding / With the countless torches lit
 
Which technique is being used? hyperbole
9. My brain is fire--my heart is lead! / Her soul is flint, and what am I?
 
Which technique is being used? metaphor
. Carven cathedrals, on a sky
 Of faintest colour, where the gothic spires fly
 And sway like masts, against a shifting breeze.
 
Which technique is being used? simile

Figurative Language Worksheet 3

Directions: Read the lines of poetry.  Figure out which technique is being used: idiom, simile,
metaphor, hyperbole, or personification.  It is possible more than one technique is being used.  In the
boxes, explain in your own words what is meant by the lines. Try your best to interpret the meaning.
Slashes represent line breaks. 
 
1. Example - A horse! a horse! My kingdom for a horse!
 
What technique is being used?
_______Hyperbole___________________________________________
Idiom, Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
Figure out what is meant:
        The line is saying that someone really wants a horse.
Write a sentence explaining the meaning.

 
2.  They have watered the street, / It shines in the glare of lamps, / Cold, white lamps,
     And lies / Like a slow-moving river
 
What technique is being used? simile

 
  

3.  Life is a stream / On which we strew / Petal by petal the flower of our heart;
 
What technique is being used? metaphor
 
 
4.  The daisy hugging the earth / in August, ha!
 
What technique is being used? personification
 
 
5.  Don't worry about the Alex / She's all bark and no bite.
 
What technique is being used? idiom / metaphor / hyperbole
 
 
6.  A treasurer of immortal days, / I roam the glorious world giving endless praise,
 
What technique is being used? hyperbole
7.  The river, curling softly by, / Whispers and dimples round its quiet gray stones.
 
What technique is being used? personification
 
 
 
8.  From their sweet feeding in the fruit; / The droning of the bees and flies / Rises
gradual as a lute;
 
What technique is being used? simile
 
 
 
9.  After getting my report card / I knew it was time to hit the books. 
 
What technique is being used? idiom / hyperbole
 
 

 
  

10.  The earth is the cup of the sun, / That filleth at morning

 
What technique is being used? metaphor
 
 
 
 

11.  An old willow with hollow branches / slowly swayed his few high tendrils / and
sang:
 
What technique is being used? personification
 
 
 

12.  I should have done homework or studied instead / But I got up on the wrong side
of the bed.
 
What technique is being used? idiom / metaphor
 
 
 

13. Over the yawning chimney hangs the fog.

 
What technique is being used? personification
 
 
14.  The smallest sprout shows that there is really no death.
 

What technique is being used? hyperbole

 
 
 

15.   Love is a breach in the walls, a broken gate.

 

What technique is being used? metaphor

 
 
 

16.  The lights from the parlor and kitchen shone out / Through the blinds and the
windows and bars;
       And high over head and all moving about, / There were thousands of millions of
billions of stars.
 

What technique is being used? hyperbole

 
 
 

17. A trumpet-vine covered an arbour / With the red and gold of its blossoms.

      Red and gold like the brass notes of trumpets.
 

What technique is being used? simlie

 
 
 

18. Hopeless, there stand the purple jars / Of night to spill oblivion.  

 

What technique is being used? metaphor

 
 
 

19. Where far remote / The moonbeams gloat

 

What technique is being used? personification

 
 
 

20.  I guess that my friends were just pulling my leg.

 

What technique is being used? idiom / metaphor

 
 
21.  So lightly I played with those dark memories, / Just as a child, beneath the
summer skies,
       Plays hour by hour with a strange shining stone,
 
What technique is being used? simile
 
 
 

22. a blessing in disguise.
 

What technique is being used? idiom / personification

 
 
 

23. Love is a young green willow / shimmering at the bare wood's edge.
 
What technique is being used? metaphor
 
 
 

24.  And now May, too, is fled, / The flower-crowned month, the merry laughing
May,
       With rosy feet and fingers dewy wet,
 

What technique is being used? personification

 
 
 

25.  Clear was the light of loveliness / That lit her face like rain;
 

What technique is being used? simile

 
 
 

26. The atmosphere is not a perfume, it has no taste of the / distillation, it is odorless,
      It is for my mouth forever, I am in love with it,
 

What technique is being used? hyperbole

 
 
 

27.  I wanted her to show up / I crossed my fingers. 

 

What technique is being used? idiom

 

Figurative Language Worksheet 4

 

Directions: Read the lines of poetry.  Slashes represent line breaks.  Figure out which

technique is being used: simile, metaphor, hyperbole, or personification.  In the boxes,
explain how you figured out your answer.  It is possible that more than one technique
is being used.  If you can, explain each. 
 
1. When the wind is low, and the sea is soft,
 And the far heat-lightning plays
 
Which technique is being used?
 
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Personification
 
Answer Explanation
The lightning is described as "playing."  People normally play, not bolts of lightning.
 

 
  

2. Your beauty was a web of frail delight.

 
Which technique is being used?
 
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Metaphor
 
Answer Explanation
Beauty and delight are compared to a frail web without using the word "like" or "as."
 
3. Now that I am without you, all is desolate;
All that was once so beautiful is dead.
 
Which technique is being used?
 
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Hyperbole
 
Answer Explanation
The speaker is exaggerating the state of things.  He says that "all is desolate," while
surely not everywhere can be deserted of people. He also says that everything
beautiful is dead, which can�t be true.
 
4. The little Road says, Go,
The little House says, Stay:
 
Which technique is being used?
 
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Personification
 
Answer Explanation
The House and the Road are given the ability to talk.
 
5. I could grow very still
Like an old stone on a hill
 
Which technique is being used?
 
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Simile
 
Answer Explanation
The speaker uses the word "like" to compare his stillness to that of an old stone.
 
 
6. My heart is but a haughty snail!
 
Which technique is being used?
 
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)
Answer
Metaphor
 
Answer Explanation
The speaker compares his heart to a snail without using the word "like" or "as."
 
 
7. Your kiss lies on my face
   Like the first snow
Upon a summer place.
 
Which technique is being used?
 
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Simile
 
Answer Explanation
The speaker uses the word "like" to compare kisses to snow.
 
 
8. How sweet the sobbing violin!
 
Which technique is being used?
 
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Personification
 
Answer Explanation
This is personification because the violin is given the ability to sob.
 

 
 
  

9. An endless quiet valley spreads out

    Past the blue hills into the evening sky;
 
Which technique is being used?
 
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Hyperbole
 
Answer Explanation
There is no way that the valley could be endless or have endless quiet.  Either way,
the valley needs to have an end to it or something in it would make a noise at
sometime.  Therefore, the speaker is exaggerating. 
 
 
10. His pigtail is long and thick,
Like a pump-handle stuck on the end of a stick.
 
 
Which technique is being used?
 
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Simile
 
Answer Explanation
This is a simile because his pigtail is compared to a pump-handle using the word
"like."
 
Figurative Language Worksheet 5
 

Directions: Read the lines of poetry. Slashes represent line breaks. Figure out which
technique is being used: simile, metaphor, hyperbole, or personification. In the boxes,
explain how you figured out your answer. It is possible that more than one technique
is being used. If you can, explain each.
 
1. All books are either dreams, or swords,
 You can cut, or you can drug, with words.
 
Which technique is being used?
________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Metaphor
 
Answer Explanation
This is a metaphor because books are compared to both dreams and swords without
using the word "like" or "as."

 
  

2. In peaceful noises of the farm, and watch

 The pastoral fields burned by the setting sun...
 
Which technique is being used?
________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Hyperbole
 
Answer Explanation
This is exaggeration because the sun won't really burn the fields, at least based on our
current distance from the sun.
 
3. A watery light
 Touched bleak the granite bridge, and white
 Without the slightest tinge of gold,
 The city shivered in the cold.
 
Which technique is being used?
________________________________________________________
Answer
Personification
 
Answer Explanation
This is personification because the light is given the ability to touch and the city is
given the ability to shiver.
 
4. And still they danced, until the moon sank low,
 Blushing a little,
 
Which technique is being used?
________________________________________________________
Answer
Personification
 
Answer Explanation
This is personification because the moon is given the ability to blush.
 
5. The stones of the field are sharp as steel.
 
Which technique is being used? Answer
Simile
 
Answer Explanation
This is a simile because the sharpness of the stones is compared to steel using the
word "as."
 
6. Swift hath sped the hour of our youth.
 
Which technique is being used?
________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Hyperbole
 
Answer Explanation
This is hyperbole because it exaggerates the length of one's youth. Though one may
be considered young for many years, the speaker has shortened it to an hour using
hyperbole.
 
7. The lake waves were flakes of red gold.
 
Which technique is being used? Answer
Metaphor
 
Answer Explanation
This is a metaphor because the waves are compared to gold flakes without using the
word "like" or "as."
 
8. April now walks the fields again,
Trailing her tearful leaves
And holding all her frightened buds against her heart
 
Which technique is being used? Answer
Personification
 
Answer Explanation
That was personification because the month of April is given the ability to walk and to
hold. Also, she possess buds and they are described as frightened.
9. Your lips, light as the wings of the dragon-flies...
 
Which technique is being used?
Answer
Simile
 
Answer Explanation
This is a simile because the speaker compares someone's lips with the winds of
dragonflies using the word "as."
 
10. The moon came with a blinding glow.
 
Which technique is being used? Answer
Hyperbole
 
Answer Explanation
This is hyperbole because it is exaggerating how bright the moon is. The moon may
be very bright at times but it is probably not capable of blinding a person.
Figurative Language Worksheet 6
 
 
Directions: Read the lines of poetry. Slashes represent line breaks. Figure out which
technique is being used: simile, metaphor, hyperbole, or personification. In the boxes,
explain how you figured out your answer. It is possible that more than one technique
is being used. If you can, explain each.
 
1. Life is too much like a pathless wood
 
Which technique is being used?
________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Simile
 
Answer Explanation
This is a simile because life is compared to pathless wood with the word "like."
 
2. The needle slept on the broidered vine,
 
Which technique is being used?
________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Personification
 
Answer Explanation
This is personification because the needle is given the ability to sleep.

 
  

3. Beauty calls and gives no warning,

 
Which technique is being used?
________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 
 How do you figure?
(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Personification
 
Answer Explanation
This is personification because beauty is given the ability to call.
 
4. My Soul goes clad in gorgeous things,
 Scarlet and gold and blue;
 
Which technique is being used?
________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Personification
 
Answer Explanation
This is personification because the speaker's soul is given the ability to wear colorful
garments.
 
 
5. My heart it was a floating bird
That through the world did wander free,
But he hath locked it in a cage,
And lost the silver key.
 
Which technique is being used?
________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Metaphor
 
Answer Explanation
This is a metaphor because the speaker compares her heart to a bird, a bird that gets
locked in a cage. The cage represents her emotional or material entrapment.
 
 
6. A drum pounds out the hymn,
 That blends with the endless rumble of carts,
 The scrape of feet, the noise of marts
 
Which technique is being used?
________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Hyperbole
 
Answer Explanation
This is hyperbole because the speaker is exaggerating the noise of the carts. The
rumble of carts cannot be endless. There has to be some time when no carts are
moving, perhaps late at night on a holiday.
 
7. They only know our love was brief,
 And passing like an autumn leaf.
 
Which technique is being used?
________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Simile
 
Answer Explanation
The speaker compares their love to an autumn leaf using the word "like."
 
 

 
  

8. They went like moths into the grass with folded wings.
 
Which technique is being used?
________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Simile
 
Answer Explanation
The speaker compare them to moths using the word "like."
 
 
9. There the unregulated sun
 Slopes down to rest when day is done,
 
Which technique is being used?
________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Personification
 
Answer Explanation
This is personification because the sun is given the ability to slope down and rest.
 
 
10. A poem is merely a flowering twig of thought.
 
Which technique is being used?
________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Metaphor
 
Answer Explanation
This is a metaphor because a poem is compared to a flowering twig without using the
word "like" or "as."
 
11. In came the moon and covered me with wonder,
Touched me and was near me and made me very still.
 
Which technique is being used?
________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Personification
 
Answer Explanation
That was personification because the moon was given the ability to touch the speaker.
   
12. The white moth is a ghost ship
 Drifting through.
 
Which technique is being used?
________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Metaphor
 
Answer Explanation
This is a metaphor because the white moth is compared to a ghost ship without using
the word "like" or "as."
 
13. My thoughts are senseless to mankind
 As a dream's trouble or the speech of birds.
 
Which technique is being used?
________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Simile
 
Answer Explanation
This is a simile because the speaker's thoughts are compared to a dream's trouble and
the speech of birds using the word "as."
 
14. Day was dying; the poplars fled,
 
Which technique is being used?
________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Personification
 
Answer Explanation
This was personification because the day was given the ability to die and the poplars
were given the ability to flee.
 
15. Shining I rise from the waters of sleep.
 
Which technique is being used?
________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Metaphor
 
Answer Explanation
That was a metaphor because sleep was implicitly compared to a body of water.
 
 
16. The stars in the sky,
 Exist but to light your passing feet.
 
 
Which technique is being used?
________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Hyperbole
 
Answer Explanation
This is hyperbole because it exaggerates the importance of the woman's feet.
 
17. Struggles and strivings that wear us out like snow men at the thaw.
 
Which technique is being used?
________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Simile
 
Answer Explanation
That was a simile because the speaker compared "us" to snow men using the word
"like."
 
18. You are a frightened owl
Blinded by the light of life
 
Which technique is being used?
________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Metaphor
 
Answer Explanation
That was a metaphor because the speaker compares "you" to a frightened owl without
using the word "like" or "as." Additionally, the events of life are implicitly compared
to light.
 
19. The high and lonely hills
 Endure the darkening year.
 
Which technique is being used?
________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Personification
 
Answer Explanation
This is personification because the hills are given the quality of loneliness.
 
20. Oh, praise me not the silent folk;
To me they only seem
Like leafless, bird-abandoned oak
And muffled, frozen stream.
 
Which technique is being used?
________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Simile
 
Answer Explanation
The speaker compares quiet people to an oak tree without birds and a frozen stream.
 
21. My heart is but a mouse.
 
Which technique is being used?
________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Metaphor
 
Answer Explanation
This is a metaphor because the speaker's heart is compared to a mouse.
 
22. Her heart was once light as the floating feather.
 
Which technique is being used?
________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Simile
 
Answer Explanation
The speaker compares her heart to a feather using the word "as."
 
23. I woke with the jostling and shouting of merry flowers.
 
Which technique is being used?
________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Personification
 
Answer Explanation
This is personification because the flowers are given the ability to jostle and shout as
well as the quality of merriness.
Figurative Language Worksheet 7
 

Directions: Read the lines of poetry. Slashes represent line breaks. Figure out which
technique is being used: simile, metaphor, hyperbole, or personification.  In the boxes,
explain how you figured out your answer. It is possible that more than one technique
is being used.  If you can, explain each. 
 
1. I shall be as peaceful as the leafy trees.
 
Which technique is used?
_____________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Simile
 
Answer Explanation
This is a simile because the speaker compares himself to a leafy tree using the word
"as."
 
2. She had no saying dark enough
  For the dark pine that kept
Forever trying the window-latch
  Of the room where they slept.
 
Which technique is used?
_____________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Personification, hyperbole
 
Answer Explanation
This is personification because the pine tree is given the ability to "try" the window-
latch. This is hyperbole because the pine tree is described as doing this "forever,"
which is an exaggeration. It also says that she has "no saying dark enough," which is
also an exaggeration.

 
  

3. For I knew his eyes

Like an old, old song.
 
Which technique is used?
_____________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Simile
 
Answer Explanation
The speaker compares his eyes to an old, old song using the word "like."
 
4. Your voice was a web to bind.
 
Which technique is used?
_____________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)
Answer
Metaphor
 
Answer Explanation
This is a metaphor because the speaker compares your voice to a web without using
the word "like" or "as."
 
5. Having prepared their buds against a sure winter,
The wise trees stand sleeping in the cold.
 
Which technique is used?
_____________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Personification
 
Answer Explanation
This is personification because the trees are given the quality of wisdom and the
ability to sleep.
 
6. Life is a frail moth flying,
Caught in the web of the years that pass,
 
Which technique is used?
_____________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Metaphor
 
Answer Explanation
This is a metaphor because life is compared to a frail moth without using the word
"like" or "as." Also, the years are compared to a web.
 
7. Are not my children as dear to me as falling leaves?
 
Which technique is used?
_____________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 
 How do you figure?
(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Simile
 
Answer Explanation
This is a simile because the speaker compares her children to falling leaves using the
word "as."
 
8. The sunflower droops to the lazy wave;
The wind sleeps--
 
Which technique is used?
_____________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Personification
 
Answer Explanation
The wind is given the ability to sleep and the wave is given the quality of laziness. 
 
9. I can scarcely breathe,
The darkness is so thick.
It stifles me,
And weighs so heavily upon me,
 
Which technique is used?
_____________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Hyperbole
 
Answer Explanation
The speaker is exaggerating about the weight and thickness of the darkness.
 
10. Between the moss and stone
The lonely lilies rise;
 
Which technique is used?
_____________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

 
Answer
Personification
 
Answer Explanation
This is personification because the lilies are given the quality of loneliness and the
ability to rise.
Figurative Language Worksheet 8
 

Directions: Read the lines of poetry. Slashes represent line breaks. Figure out which
technique is being used: simile, metaphor, hyperbole, or personification. In the boxes,
explain how you figured out your answer. It is possible that more than one technique
is being used. If you can, explain each.
 
1. I found her dancing like a leaf
And singing like a bird.
 
Which technique is used?
_____________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Simile
 
Answer Explanation
This is a simile because the speaker compares her to a leaf and a bird using the
word  "like. "
 
2. Over me bright April
Shakes out her rain-drenched hair,
 
Which technique is used?
_____________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)
Answer
Personification
 
Answer Explanation
This is personification because the month of April is given hair and the ability to
shake.

 
  

3. Death will wait until you come.

 
Which technique is used?
_____________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Personification
 
Answer Explanation
This is personification because it gives death the ability to wait.
 
4. Old heartbreaks are old wine.
Too new to pour is mine.
 
Which technique is used?
_____________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Metaphor
 
Answer Explanation
The speaker compares heartbreaks to wine without using the word  "like " or  "as. "
 
5. That night from a dingy hotel room,
 I saw the moon, like a golden gong,
 Redly loom
 Across the lake;
 
Which technique is used?
_____________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Simile
 
Answer Explanation
This is a simile because the speaker compares the moon to a golden gong using the
word  "like. "
 
6. My heart is a little painted poem.
 
Which technique is used?
_____________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Metaphor
 
Answer Explanation
This is a metaphor because the speaker compares her heart to a little painted poem
without using the word  "like " or  "as. "

 
  

7. Up
 with the pale important
 stars and the Humorous
 moon
 
Which technique is used?
_____________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Personification
 
Answer Explanation
This is personification because the speaker gives the moon the quality of humor.
 
8. The ivory teeth within the jaw
 Rattled aloud, like dice.
 
Which technique is used?
_____________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Simile
 
Answer Explanation
This is a simile because it compares the ivory teeth to dice using the word  "like. "
 
9. Piercing my poor brain
 With beauty, a fiery dart.
 
Which technique is used?
_____________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Metaphor
 
Answer Explanation
This is a metaphor because it compares the idea of beauty to a fiery dart without using
the word  "like " or  "as. "
 
10. The wet wind hums its colorless refrain;
 
Which technique is used?
_____________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Personification
 
Answer Explanation
This is personification because it gives the wind the ability to hum.
 
11. I would wander with you to the ends of all creation.
 
Which technique is being used?
 
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Hyperbole
 
Answer Explanation
This is hyperbole because it exaggerates how far the speaker would wander. The
distance he claims that he would travel surpasses any earthly ability.
 
12. I am glad for my heart whose gates apart
Are the entrance-place of wonders,
 
Which technique is used?
_____________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Metaphor
 
Answer Explanation
This is a metaphor because it compares the speaker's heart to a gated entry.
 
13. Lemonade and ice cream,
Sitting poolside on an endless summer day.
 
Which technique is used?
_____________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Hyperbole
 
Answer Explanation
This is hyperbole because it exaggerates the length of the day. Surely it must end
within 24 hours.
 
14. Starvation danced with me.
 
Which technique is used?
_____________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Personification
 
Answer Explanation
This is personification because it gives starvation the ability to dance.
 
 
15. I wish there were some wonderful place
Where all our mistakes and all our heartaches, could be
Dropped, like a shabby old coat, at the door, and never put on again.
 
Which technique is used?
_____________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Simile
 
Answer Explanation
This is a simile because it compares heartaches and mistakes to a shabby coat.
 
16. The glorious Lamp of Heaven, the Sun,
 
Which technique is used?
_____________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Metaphor
 
Answer Explanation
This is a metaphor because it compares the sun to a lamp without using the
word  "like " or  "as. "
 
17. But on this line alone, the poet has toiled a million years or more.
 
Which technique is used?
_____________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Hyperbole
 
Answer Explanation
This is hyperbole because it exaggerates how long the poet spent working on the line.
It probably took a lot less time than one million years.
 
Tags
Hyperbole, figurative language, poetry, 4 th grade, 5th grade, 6th grade,
 
18. Up from the vineyard comes
 Music of laughter;
 Far through the valleys they
 Gather the harvest.
 
Which technique is used?
_____________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Metaphor
 
Answer Explanation
This is a metaphor because it compares laughter to music without using the
word  "like " or  "as. "
 
19. The black waves moaned and broke unutterably
 On a stern cliff where hand in hand we stood.
 
Which technique is used?
_____________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Personification
 
Answer Explanation
This is personification because the waves are given the ability to moan and the cliff is
given the quality of sternness.
 
20. Your charms in harmless childhood lay like metals in a mine;
 
Which technique is used?
_____________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Simile
 
Answer Explanation
This is a simile because the speaker compares  "your " charms to metals in a mine
using the word  "like. "
 
21. Weeds climb about the stoop
 And clutch the crumbling walls;
The drowsy grasses droop--
 The night wind falls.
 
Which technique is used?
_____________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 
 How do you figure?
(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Personification
 
Answer Explanation
This is personification because the weeds are given the ability to clutch, the grasses
are given the quality of drowsiness, and wind is given the ability to fall.
 
22. The drops ran down as slow as fate.
 
Which technique is used?
_____________________________________________________________
Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole
 

How do you figure?

(write a sentence explaining your answer)

Answer
Simile
 
Answer Explanation
This is a simile because it compares drops to fate using the word  "as. "