Figurative language: whooper swan

Writing Ideas

• Imagine that you are a whooper swan, flying from Iceland (the Land of Fire and Ice ) to the UK in search of food. Write about your dangerous voyage. Were you blown off course by a storm? Did you have a near-death experience with an erupting volcano? Watch the Waitrose advert, A Robin’s Homecoming, for some inspiration.
• Watch the related clip below. Under the title, The Wonder of Eggs, explain why bird eggs are such remarkable things. Find out some further facts, including ones that are specifically about swans’ eggs, and add these to your explanatory text.
• Read The Swan by Mary Oliver. Identify examples of figurative language in the poem and give each one a score rating. Now write your own poem that uses figurative language to paint a vivid image of a swan in your reader’s mind.