Figurative Language In Marie Howe's 'Practicing'

Lastly, Marie Howe language and use of figurative language was excellent throughout the book. In “Practicing”, Howe’s syntax and phrasing describes naïve children and they were preteens at the time. She uses the terms “girls” and “parent’s house” which shows that they are still not old enough to own their own property. The line “did on the floor in the basement of somebody’s parents’ house” also indicates their age because they are in a secluded place to do something that is not age appropriate in the eyes of the parents. Howe uses a simile to compare one of the girls’ basement to a “boat with booths and portholes”. The booths represent kissing stands so there was a lot of making out. Boats are on the water and the portholes are implying that

The imagery here is deep because Howe was able to relate the tree to man-made items and gives the tree its own personification. In the poem “The Game”, Marie Howe does an excellent job of describing this game that she used to play with others. They flipped chairs and made a city from blankets and boxes. They pretended to inhabit around or in objects such as a pool table, the cupboard, or the bathroom. The lights were turned off and the group pretend it was night time even though it was, and they would sleep. Also in “A Certain Light” Howe continues to be great descriptively when elaborating on her brother’s physique. Their brother was so sick he that his muscle tissue was near to depleted. In the first two stanzas she talks about how she had to give John multiple pills and emphasized the number by spelling them out with specific names of the pills. She then said that John was bones and skin and he did not have tissue to absorb the medication. The description of how they attempted to keep John awake really set in how sick he was. The would ask him question to get him to continue to talk, but he was not very alert and showed symptoms of someone on the verge of