Ho Xuan Huong was a Vietnamese poet who lived and worked around the turn of the 19th century. In “Spring-Watching Pavilion,” Huong takes up one of her essential themes: the critique of organized religion. Huong uses rich metaphors to convey the ubiquity and futility of religions, whose wave-like bells render “heaven upside-down in sad puddles.”

Skills: analysis, drawing inferences from text, close reading, identifying the relationship between words

About This Document

The Owl Eyes Analyzing Metaphor worksheet gives students an opportunity to practice examining and analyzing metaphors. Students will engage with specific selections of the text and work collaboratively to identify the vehicle, tenor, and implications of each metaphor. The main components include the following:

• A brief introduction to the text
• A detailed handout on metaphor types
• A step-by-step guide to activity procedure
• A detailed answer key for teachers

In completing this worksheet, students will learn to classify and analyze different kinds of metaphors in order to develop close reading skills and draw deeper inferences from the text.