Figurative Language

Gives new meaning to ordinary

words
Everyday words are put together in
new ways to create vivid word
pictures
Not meant to be taken literally
Figures of speech-several ways of
putting words together
Resemblance
Simile
Metaphor
Personification
Apostrophe
Allusion
Antonomasia
Emphasis
Hyperbole
Meiosis
Litotes
Repetition
Rhetorical question
Parallelism and contrast
Antithesis
Paradox
Irony
Oxymoron
Chiasmus
Sound Effects
Alliteration
Assonance
Onomatopoeia
Pun
Euphemism
Substitution
Metonymy
Synecdoche
Arrangement of words
Climax

Anti-climax
Simile
A stated comparison between 2 things that
are actually unlike but have something in
common
Use of words like: like, as, resemble or
similar to
quiet as a mouse
like a glum cricket
Metaphor
Makes a direct comparison of two unlike
things that have something in common
Does not use any words such as like or as
even at night-time, mama is a sunrise
stars are great drops of golden dew
birds are flowers flying
and flowers perched birds
Personification
Gives human qualities to an object, an
animal or an idea
Enables the reader to see ordinary things in
a new and interesting way
the sun puts a rainbow scarf about rains
shoulders when they go out together
when silence walks the city
in her pretty velvet shoes
Apostrophe
Addresses personified objects as real
persons, the absent as if they are present
and the dead as if they were alive or present
death, be not proud, though some have
called thee
mighty and dreadful or thou art not so
time, you old gypsy man, will you not stay?
Allusion
Reference in a work of literature to another
work of literature or to a well-know person,
place or event outside of literature

Mythological allusion: Gino is the Adonis

of the class.
Literary allusion: He is a Shakespeare
amidst that class.
Historical allusion: Some call Marcos a
modern day Hitler.
Biblical allusion: Joanne and David are the
Jonathan and David of II-Pegasus.
Antonomasia
Type of allusion
Makes use of a title or an epithet instead of
a proper name
Use proper name to convey an idea
Examples:
Penelope-faithful wife
Waterloo-weakness
Solomon-wisdom
Hyperbole
Exaggerates an idea so vividly that the
reader has an instant picture
Is this the face that launched a thousand
ships
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?
When Susanna Jones wears red
A queen from some-time Egyptian Night
Walks once again
Meiosis
A positive understatement intended to
suggest a strong affirmative
I am a bit worried because I am failing in
almost all of my subjects
We were a little disappointed to learn that
the guest of honour could not come
Litotes
A mild negative understatement intended to
suggest a strong affirmative
A grade school boy won first place in an
oratorical contest and his grandfather said,
not a bad accomplishment.

Repetition
Repeating words, phrases or whole
constructions in order to intensify feeling or
meaning
Never give in. never give in. never, never,
never, never yield to force.
Rhetorical Question
A question which the speaker expects no
spoken answer but hopes for the mental
one that he forcefully suggests
What will a man gain if he wins the whole
world and ruins his life? Or what has a man
to offer in exchange for his life?
Irony
General name given to literary techniques
that involve differences between appearance
and reality, expectation and result, meaning
and intention.
Verbal irony-words are used to suggest the
opposite of what is meant
Two friends have planned a day picnicking
and hiking. As they step out of the door, it
begins to rain. One says, Oh, Great! I was
hoping it would rain.
Irony of the Situation-an event occurs
that directly contradicts the expectations of
the characters, the reader, or the audience.
***The gift of the Maggi
Dramatic Irony
contradiction is between what a character
thinks and what the reader or audience
knows to be true.
Just as conspirators gather around Caesar
to assassinate him, he asks, Are we all
ready?
Oxymoron
Combination of 2 mutually contradictory
words in a case where the contradiction is

apparently only, the two ideas being

realized.
James Bond is a well-known secret agent.
Parting is a sweet sorrow.
Paradox
A seemingly contradictory statement but
true statement.
Attack is the best form of defence.
We are our own parents.
Antithesis
Juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in
parallel structures
This was the best of times; this was the
worst of times.
Ah, how beautiful it is to fall in order t give
flight, to die in order to give you life
Chiasmus
Parallelism in sentence element of similar
or contrasting ideas, so arranged that the
parallel elements of the second part of the
structure are in inverted order
He was slow in resolution, in performance
quick.
Be swift about hearing, about speaking
slow.
Alliteration
Repetition of consonant sounds
Gives a musical quality and a rhythm to a
poem
Puts emphasis on certain words and helps
to create mood
There once was a witch of Willowby Wood,
And a weird wild witch was she.
Assonance
Recurrence in words that are close together
of the same vowel sound
Double, double toil and trouble.
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Onomatopoeia
Use of words to imitate sounds
With a whoosh of rockets and the thud of
mortars, the attack began.
Pun
Play of words of nearly the same sound but
of different meanings
An advice to a loquacious person:
Look before you lip
Question: Define wise.
Answer. It's what little kids are always
asking, as in Wise the sky blue?
Euphemism
Use of a pleasant or pale expression instead
of an unpleasant, harsh or depressing one.
Passed away
Metonymy
Substitution of one noun for another which
it suggests
Based on an association
We watched Spielberg today.
It's rope for the criminal.
Synecdoche
Type of metonymy in which a significant
part is used to represent the whole
It's useless to preach to empty stomachs.
A sail rose out of the sea
Climax
Arrangement of a series of words, phrases,
clauses or sentences in an ascending order
of importance
I came. I saw. I conquered.
Anti-climax
Abruptly ending a climax build-up wit an
insignificant item
I die. I faint. I fail.