TACHS: Linked images in a poem: name the family the words share
Learn to explain what a group of related images adds to a poem by naming the real things they describe and the family of ideas they come from, and to track how a speaker's understanding changes.
When a question names two or three image words from a poem, how do you explain what they contribute together?
Short answer
Say what real thing each word describes, name the family the words come from, such as music or cooking, and explain what that link helps you see. The answer covers every word and treats none of them as literal.
Know first: What a metaphor is, Reading a poem stanza by stanza
Step 1 of 5
Image words from one family tie a poem together
Sometimes a poet uses several words from the same area of life, such as music, travel or cooking. One line calls the rain an orchestra, and the next says the puddles keep the beat. Together they form an extended comparison that links separate moments.
A question may name two or three of these words and ask what they contribute. The answer names the real subjects, the shared family, and what the link helps you see.
| Question | How to answer it |
|---|---|
| What does the speaker find or see? | A plain detail. Quote the line, not the image around it. |
| What most likely caused something? | Use clues about size, time and sound. Don't name more than the poem supports. |
| What changes between two stanzas? | Compare what the speaker thought earlier with what the speaker realizes later. |
| What idea does the poem suggest? | Build it from that change in understanding. |
In many poems, the scene stays the same while the speaker's understanding of it changes.
Step 2 of 5
Read the image words side by side
A rainy roof
The rain's small orchestra1 tunes up2 on the tin roof. The gutter hums its low note3, and the puddles keep the beat4.
- Real subject: the rain. Family: music.
- The first drops, like players warming up.
- Water running through the gutter.
- Drips landing in puddles, steady like a drum.
Worked example: What do the music words add?
What do “orchestra,” “tunes up,” “hums” and “beat” contribute to the lines?
- AThey describe a real concert held beside the house.
- BThey link the sounds of the rain to music, so the storm seems like a performance.
- CThey suggest that the roof is broken and needs repair.
- DThey show that the speaker is playing a drum.
- 1
Real subjects
Rain on the roof, water in the gutter, drips in puddles.
- 2
Family
Music: an orchestra tuning up, humming, keeping a beat.
- 3
What the link adds
Separate storm sounds become parts of one performance, which makes the scene lively and easy to hear.
- 4
See why the other choices are there
A and D make the music literal. C ignores the images and adds a problem no line describes.
Answer
They link the sounds of the rain to music, so the storm seems like a performance.
Wrong: Hums shows that the gutter makes a low sound.
Right: Hums, like orchestra and beat, turns the storm's sounds into one piece of music.
The first answer explains one word on its own. A linked-image question asks what the words do together.
Step 3 of 5
Name the family and the change
Read this poem
The morning fog was poured
across the town like milk.
The hills float, half dissolved,
while the sun stirs slowly with a spoon of light.
I thought the day would stay this pale,
a cup that no one finished.
But by the time I reached the bus,
the street had cleared to blue.
Check yourself · Question 1
What do “poured,” “stirs” and “spoon” contribute to the first stanza?
Answer: C
The fog is poured like milk, and the sun stirs it with a spoon of light. The kitchen words connect the fog and the sun as parts of one slow mixing.
Trap answer: They show that someone in the town is making breakfast.
Making the image literal
- Why it looks right
- Milk, a cup and a spoon really do suggest breakfast, and it's morning.
- Why it's wrong
- Each word describes fog or sunlight. No one in the poem is cooking, so the kitchen family is a comparison.
- The right answer
- They link the fog and the sunlight to mixing a drink, so the sun seems to stir the fog away.
Check yourself · Question 2
What changes between the first part of the second stanza and its last line?
Answer: B
The speaker thought the day would stay this pale, and then the street had cleared to blue. What changes is the speaker's expectation.
Common mistake
I explained only the first word the question named.
- Why it's tempting
- Once one word makes sense, the answer seems to follow.
- Do this instead
- Line the words up side by side and name what they share. The right choice covers every word in the question.
Step 4 of 5
What to remember
Remember
- Say what real thing each image word describes.
- Name the family the words share and what the link helps you see.
- Track what the speaker first thought and what the speaker later realizes.
Step 5 of 5
Practice on a real question
Use what you just learned on this question, then check the explanation.
In your own words
In the practice question, what real things do the image words describe, and what family of ideas do they share?