“Once you learn to read you will be   forever free.”

- Frederick Douglas

“Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of

generations.”

- Henry David Thoreau

“Reading is to the mind

what exercise is to the body.”

“Reading early in life gives a youngster a

multitude of friends to guide intellectual and emotional growth.

- Caroll Gray

“After three days without reading, talk becomes

flavorless.”

(Chinese Proverb)

HAIKU (HI-coo)

·         It is a poetic form and a type of poetry from the Japanese culture. Haiku combines form, content, and language is meaningful, yet compact form. Haiku poets, which you will soon be, write about everyday things. It has many themes: nature, feelings, or experiences. Usually, they use simple words and grammar. The most common form for Haiku is three (3) short lines.

·         It is composed of three (3) lines with 17 syllables.

(5) _ _ _ _ _

(7) _ _ _ _ _ _ _

(5) _ _ _ _ _

·         It is originated from the Japanese culture. 

·         It must paint mental images in the reader’s mind

·         It doesn’t have rhyming words.

·         It tackles about nature, feelings, or experiences.

Examples:

·         The python got up

When I walked on the dry grass

Afterwards, he was still.

·         Old Pond by Basho

Old pond

A frog leaps in

Water’s sound

·         (Haiku)

I am first with five

Then seven in the middle

Five again to end.

·         (Frog)

Green and speckled legs

Hops on logs and lily pads

Splash in cool water.

·         (Kangaroo)

In a pouch I grow

On a southern continent

Strange creatures I know.

·         The Rose by Donna Brock

The red blossom bends

And drips its dew to the ground like a tear it falls.

·         A Rainbow by Donna Brock

Curing up, then down

Meeting blue sky and green earth

Melding sun and rain

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE (Figures of Speech)

        I.            Simile

It is a comparison between two things that are not the same using like or as.

Examples:

1.       Your lips are like a red, red rose.

2.       “Cause she looks like a flower but she stings like a bee like every girl in history.”

-Ricky Martin

      II.            Metaphor

Stating one entity/thing is another for the purpose of comparing them in quality. Two nouns are compared (or contrasted) to one another; unlike simile, you don’t use like or as.

Examples:

1.       “But my heart is a lovely hunter that hunts on a lovely hill.”

2.       He was a lion in the battlefield.

    III.            Personification

It is attributing or applying human qualities to inanimate objects, animals, or natural phenomena.

Example:

1.       The haughty lion surveyed his realm.

2.       My car was happy to be washed.

    IV.            Hyperbole

It is the use of exaggerated terms for emphasis. It is an exaggeration of a statement.

Example:

1.       “The bag weighted a ton.”

 (Hyperbole helps to make the point that the bag was very heavy although it is not probable that it would actually weigh a ton.)

2.       The whole world was staring at me.

3.       She is as big as an elephant.