Figurative Language
Terms and Definitions
Figurative Language
• word or phrase that describes one
thing in terms of another and is
not meant to be understood on a
literal level
(c) 2007 brainybetty.com ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED.
2
Alliteration
• the close repetition of consonant
sounds, usually at the beginning of
words
(c) 2007 brainybetty.com ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED.
3
•EX: Open here I flung the
shutter, when with many a flirt
and flutter,/In there stepped a
stately Raven of the saintly days
of yore.
•–Edgar Allan Poe, from “The Raven”
(c) 2007 brainybetty.com ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED.
4
Extended Metaphor
• a metaphor that is extended or
developed over several lines of
writing or even throughout an
entire poem
(c) 2007 brainybetty.com ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED.
5
Emily Dickinson's Extended
Metaphor: Hope as a "Little Bird"
"Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the
words,
And never stops at all,
(c) 2007 brainybetty.com ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED.
6
Hyperbole
• a figure of speech that uses
deliberate exaggeration to
emphasize a point
• frequently used for humor
(c) 2007 brainybetty.com ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED.
7
They ran like greased lightning.
Her brain is the size of a pea.
He is older than the hills.
(c) 2007 brainybetty.com ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED.
8
Metaphor
• a figure of speech that makes a
comparison between two unlike
things, in which one thing
becomes another thing without
the use of the word like, as, than,
or resembles
(c) 2007 brainybetty.com ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED.
9
Steam Shovel
by Charles Malam
The dinosaurs are not all dead.
I saw one raise it's iron head
To watch me walking down the road
Beyond our house today.
It's jaws were dripping with a load
Of earth and grass that it had cropped.
It must have heard me where I stopped,
Snorted white steam my way,
And stretched its long neck out to see me,
And chewed, and grinned quite amiably.
(c) 2007 brainybetty.com ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED.
10
Onomatopoeia
• the use of a
word whose
sound imitates or
suggests its
meaning
• EX:
buzz
crackle
hiss
(c) 2007 brainybetty.com ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED.
11
Cafeteria
Boom!
Went the food
trays.
Clap! Clap!
Goes the teacher.
Rip!
Went the
plastic bag.
Munch! Munch!
Go the students.
Slurp!!!
Went the straws.
Whisper
Is what half the kids
in the room
are doing.
Crunch!
Crunch!
go
the candy bars.
By: Rachael
(c) 2007 brainybetty.com ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED.
12
Personification
• Giving human characteristics to
non-human things
(c) 2007 brainybetty.com ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED.
13
The Cat & The Fiddle
Hey diddle, Diddle,
The cat and the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon;
The little dog laughed
To see such sport,
And the dish ran away with the spoon.
By Mother Goose
(c) 2007 brainybetty.com ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED.
14
Simile
• a figure of speech that makes a
comparison between two unlike
things using a word such as like,
as, resembles, or than
(c) 2007 brainybetty.com ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED.
15
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and
soot.
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.
His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!
(c) 2007 brainybetty.com ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED.
16
(c) 2007 brainybetty.com ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED.
17