Looking for a way to help your students confidently create original poetry that’s rich in figurative language and personal meaning?
 
This Extended Metaphor Poem Graphic Organizer is the perfect tool to support middle and high school students in writing their own extended metaphor poems with clarity, structure, and creativity.
 
This resource breaks the writing process into three simple steps: crafting a central metaphor, building sensory connections, and extending the metaphor across multiple stanzas. It guides students to compare a meaningful topic—like identity, resilience, or growing up—to unlike objects or ideas that support a deeper message. With built-in scaffolding and a figurative language vocab bank, even reluctant writers will feel confident deciphering poetic expression.
 
Students will:
Brainstorm a central metaphor connected to a personal or symbolic topic
Use figurative language like simile, personification, and imagery with purpose
Extend the metaphor across at least four stanzas
Use sensory details to show, not tell
Finish their final poem on a separate sheet and illustrate two images that represent their metaphor
On the back of the worksheet, students are given a Criteria for Success checklist that ensures they include a clear metaphor, use figurative language correctly, and show understanding of how metaphors can deliver powerful messages.
 
Whether you're teaching a poetry unit or prepping for a writing benchmark, this resource builds essential skills in symbolism, structure, and voice.
 
✨ Why this resource works:
Designed for a real student who needed more support, this organizer helped turn uncertainty into pride—and resulted in a beautifully crafted metaphor poem. You can use it for any extended metaphor emulation assignment, or as a creative writing activity in any ELA classroom.
 
Perfect for:
✔️ Poetry & Figurative Language Units
✔️ SpringBoard & College-Prep Curriculums
✔️ Creative Writing Projects
✔️ Grades 6–12
✔️ Exit Tickets, Portfolios, or Performance Tasks
 
Please Note: This is a non-editable PDF