Voice Lesson #3

Metaphors, Similes, and Personification

Now only the night moved in the souls of the two men bent by their lonely fire in
the wilderness; darkness pumped quietly in their veins and ticked silently in their
temples and their wrists.
Ray Bradbury, The Dragon, The Golden Apples of the Sun
and Other Stories
1. Is the word night literal or figurative? If it is literal, what does it literally
mean? If it is figurative, explain why.
2. When Bradbury says, darkness pumped quietly in their veins and ticked
silently in their temples and their wrists, what does he literally mean? This
entire clause is a metaphor, which means there has to be a comparison
between essentially unlike things. What is the comparison? What are the
literal and figurative terms of the metaphor?
3. Write a sentence similar to Bradburys about a group of very happy people.
Use a metaphor to describe the people. The first thing you need to do is
decide what you want to compare their happiness to. Then you can write your
sentence. Remember that a metaphor is implied, not stated.
Literal Term
Happiness
Sentence:

Word that states the

comparison
is

Figurative term