Name: _________________________

Identifying Figurative Language from Edgar Allan Poe

Directions: Write which technique is being used on the line. Then, explain how you know your answer.

Answers: Simile, Metaphor, Personification, and Hyperbole

1. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth.

What technique is being used? Hyperbole

Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole

How do you figure?
Explain how you got your answer

It is an exaggeration to claim that he heard all things.

2. A single dim ray, like the thread of the spider, shot from out the crevice.

What technique is being used? Simile

Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole

How do you figure?
Explain how you got your answer

The ray of light is compared to spider thread using "like."

3. Yes, he was stone, stone dead.

What technique is being used? Metaphor or personification

Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole

How do you figure?
Explain how you got your answer

His state is compared to that of a stone's without using the word "like" or "as." Also, the stone is given the human characterstic of death.

4. Death has reared himself a throne / In a strange city lying alone

What technique is being used? Personification

Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole

How do you figure?
Explain how you got your answer

The idea of death is given human characteristics.

5. It increased my fury, as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage.

What technique is being used? Simile

Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole

How do you figure?
Explain how you got your answer

It is being compared to a drum beat using the word "as."

6. All that we see or seem / Is but a dream within a dream.

What technique is being used? Hyperbole or Metaphor

Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole

How do you figure?
Explain how you got your answer

It is an exaggeration to claim that "all" is but a dream. Also, everything is being compared to a dream.

7. The rosemary nods upon the grave; / The lily lolls upon the wave;

What technique is being used? Personification

Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole

How do you figure?
Explain how you got your answer

Rosemary is given the trait of nodding and lily is given the ability to loll.

8. The breeze— the breath of God—is still

What technique is being used? Metaphor

Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole

How do you figure?
Explain how you got your answer

The breeze is compared to the breathe of god.

9. It was a low, dull, quick sound—much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton.

What technique is being used? Simile

Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole

How do you figure?
Explain how you got your answer

The sound is compared to the noise of an enveloped watch.

10. Now each visitor shall confess / The sad valley's restlessness.

What technique is being used? Personificatoin or hyperbole

Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole

How do you figure?
Explain how you got your answer

The valley is given the trait of sadness, and it is an exaggeration to claim that each visitor will feel that.