Word Choice Spice up your poetry!

WORD CHOICE Recap: USE LANGUAGE THAT IS NATURAL AND NOT OVERDONE AVOID REPETITION USE WORDS CORRECTLY USE POWERFUL ACTION VERBS USE SPECIFIC, NOT GENERAL, NOUNS USE ADJECTIVES THAT ARE AS DESCRIPTIVE AS POSSIBLE CREATE A MENTAL PICTURE WITH WORDS FOR THE READER AVOID VAGUE, BORING, AND OVERUSED WORDS

Bad Metaphors and Similes Sometimes when we try to include figurative language, we don’t do it effectively. She caught your eye like one of those pointy hook latches that used to dangle from screen doors and would fly up whenever you banged the door open again. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't. Her hair glistened in the rain like nose hair after a sneeze. Her eyes were like two brown circles with big black dots in the center. He was as tall as a six-foot-three-inch tree. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.

Metaphor done well Hope by Emily Dickinson Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul, And sings the tune--without the words, And never stops at all, And sweetest in the gale is heard; And sore must be the storm That could abash the little bird That kept so many warm. I've heard it in the chillest land, And on the strangest sea; Yet, never, in extremity, It asked a crumb of me.

Playing with Words Choose a concept, an item, a person,… For that thing, create a simile, a metaphor and personification. Choose your words carefully! Don’t just throw something together.