6 Great Poems to Teach Figurative Language in Upper Elementary and Middle School
October 8, 2026
Looking for poems to teach figurative language? Poetry is one of my favorite ways to help students understand similes, metaphors, personification, hyperbole, alliteration, and onomatopoeia. And here's why: poets manage to pack an incredible amount of meaning into just a few lines!
A good poem gives students the chance to do more than simply identify a literary device. They can figure out what it means, why the poet used it, and how it changes the way they experience the poem.
Whether you're planning a poetry unit, introducing literary devices, or looking for engaging figurative language activities for grades 4–8, these six poems offer plenty of opportunities for meaningful reading, writing, and discussion. Oh, and I have the perfect unit to help teach types of figurative language, too! Check it out here.
1. Teach Similes with "Harlem" by Langston Hughes
Poem: Harlem
Author: Langston Hughes
Best for: Grades 6–8
What is the poem about?
In this short but powerful poem, Hughes explores what happens when a dream is repeatedly delayed or denied. Rather than giving readers a straightforward answer, he asks a series of questions that invite us to imagine what happens to dreams that never get the chance to become reality.
Figurative Language to Highlight: Simile
Hughes uses a series of comparisons to help readers understand something abstract: a deferred dream. Students can explore how the different images suggest disappointment, frustration, decay, and even danger.
Try This!
Ask students to identify the similes and consider which comparison they find most powerful. Then have them create an original simile to describe a feeling such as disappointment, excitement, or frustration.
Discussion Question: Why might Hughes have chosen several different comparisons instead of describing a deferred dream in just one way?
2. Teach Personification with "Fog" by Carl Sandburg
Poem: Fog
Author: Carl Sandburg
Best for: Grades 4–8
What is the poem about?
This wonderfully short poem describes fog moving quietly into a city, lingering for a while, and eventually moving away. What makes it memorable is how Sandburg transforms an ordinary weather event into something that seems alive.
Figurative Language to Highlight: Personification
Sandburg compares the fog to a cat and gives it animal-like movements. Technically, the central comparison is an extended metaphor rather than personification alone, which makes this an especially useful poem for discussing how literary devices can overlap.
Try This!
Have students describe another type of weather as an animal. What would a thunderstorm be? A snowstorm? A gentle spring breeze?
Challenge them to create two or three lines that help readers imagine the weather through the animal's movements.
Discussion Question: How would the mood change if Sandburg had compared the fog to a different animal?
3. Teach Metaphors with "Introduction to Poetry" by Billy Collins
Poem: Introduction to Poetry
Author: Billy Collins
Best for: Grades 6–8
What is the poem about?
This poem is about the experience of reading poetry itself! Collins encourages readers to explore a poem with curiosity, imagination, and playfulness rather than treating it like a puzzle with one correct answer.
Figurative Language to Highlight: Metaphor
Throughout the poem, Collins uses imaginative comparisons to show different ways readers might experience poetry. He also uses more forceful imagery to criticize the idea that poems must be interrogated until they reveal a single meaning.
Try This!
Ask students to choose one of the poem's comparisons and illustrate it. Then have them explain what the image suggests about how we should approach poetry.
As a creative extension, challenge students to complete this sentence:
Reading a poem is like...
Then have them turn their comparison into a metaphor.
Discussion Question: What does Collins want readers to do differently when they encounter a poem?
4. Teach Alliteration with "Bleezer's Ice Cream" by Jack Prelutsky
Poem: Bleezer's Ice Cream
Author: Jack Prelutsky
Best for: Grades 4–6
What is the poem about?
Imagine walking into an ice cream shop and discovering the most ridiculous flavors imaginable! In this playful poem, the shopkeeper introduces a menu of unusual combinations that sound funny and probably taste terrible.
Figurative Language to Highlight: Alliteration
Prelutsky uses repeated beginning consonant sounds, rhyme, and playful word combinations to create humor and rhythm. It's a great reminder that word choice affects how writing sounds, not just what it means.
Try This!
Have students invent three outrageous ice cream flavors using alliteration. They can create a mini menu, illustrate their flavors, and write a short advertisement for their ice cream shop.
Discussion Question: How does repeating beginning sounds make the invented flavors more entertaining and memorable?
5. Teach Hyperbole with "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out" by Shel Silverstein
Poem: Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out
Author: Shel Silverstein
Best for: Grades 4–7
What is the poem about?
Sarah has one job she absolutely refuses to do: take out the garbage. Unfortunately, her refusal leads to an increasingly ridiculous disaster as the trash piles higher and higher.
This poem is funny, exaggerated, and just gross enough to keep students entertained!
Figurative Language to Highlight: Hyperbole
Silverstein uses outrageous exaggeration to turn an ordinary household chore into an unbelievable catastrophe. Students can see how hyperbole creates humor while emphasizing a point.
Try This!
Ask students to write a short poem or paragraph about an everyday problem that becomes completely ridiculous.
Some possibilities:
A backpack that's too heavy
A bedroom that's too messy
Homework that takes forever
A lunch line that never ends
Encourage them to make their exaggerations more and more outrageous as they write.
Discussion Question: Would the poem be as entertaining if Silverstein described a realistic amount of garbage? Why or why not?
6. Teach Onomatopoeia with "The Bells" by Edgar Allan Poe
Poem: The Bells
Author: Edgar Allan Poe
Best for: Grades 6–8, with selected stanzas for younger students
What is the poem about?
Poe takes readers through the sounds of different bells, from cheerful jingling to frightening clanging and solemn tolling. As the sounds change, the mood of the poem changes, too.
Figurative Language to Highlight: Onomatopoeia
Poe uses sound-imitating words, repetition, rhyme, and rhythm to help readers hear the bells as they read. It's an especially effective poem for showing how the sound of language can create mood.
Try This!
Read a short section aloud and ask students to identify words that imitate sounds. Then challenge them to write a four-line poem about a noisy place, such as a cafeteria, playground, basketball game, or thunderstorm.
Discussion Question: How do the sounds of the words influence the feelings you experience while reading?
Before Poetry Analysis: Teach It, Create It, Analyze It!
One thing I've learned from teaching figurative language is that students need more than definitions and identification worksheets. They need opportunities to experiment with language themselves before they're ready to explain how authors use it.
That's the thinking behind my 5-Day Figurative Language Unit.
The unit includes:
Six mini-lessons covering simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, alliteration, and onomatopoeia
A 20-slide instructional presentation with teaching notes
Guided notes and independent practice
Six engaging creative activities with sample responses
Ten reading passages for identifying and interpreting figurative language
Detailed lesson plans and answer keys
Students learn the devices, create their own examples, and then analyze figurative language in context.
It's a great way to build the foundational skills students need before diving into the poems above—or to reinforce those skills as part of a poetry unit.
[Explore the 5-Day Figurative Language Unit on Teachers Pay Teachers]
One More Idea: Let Students Become the Poetry Experts!
After exploring these poems together, divide students into small groups and assign each group a different figurative language device.
Have groups select a poem, identify examples of their assigned device, explain how it contributes to the poem, and teach their findings to the class.
You could even turn it into a classroom poetry gallery walk!
The goal isn't just for students to find a simile or label a metaphor. It's for them to recognize that poets make deliberate choices—and those choices affect what readers imagine, understand, and feel.
Happy teaching!
Mary Beth
