Figurative Language vs.
Literal Language
What does it mean?
Standard
ELACC8RL4: Determine the meaning of words
and phrases as they are used in a text,
including figurative and connotative
meanings; analyze the impact of specific
word choices on meaning and tone, including
analogies or allusions to other texts.
Literal Language
• Literal language is language that means
exactly what it says.
For example, if I said, “Sit down,” I literally
mean “take a seat in your chair”
Figurative Language
• Figurative language is language that does not
mean exactly what it says.
• It is understood that the words mean
something different.
Ex. I am burning up!
Figurative and Literal
Literal: Would you please chill these sodas
in the refrigerator?
Figurative: Would you please chill out!
Don’t mix them up!
In basketball, if we say, “He is on fire,” we mean
that he hasn’t missed a shot in a while.
But what if….
What if we took that literally….He’s on fire!
Examples
She is a peach!
Literal: She is a fuzzy piece of fruit that we can
cook in a pie!
Figurative: She is really sweet!
Examples
I’ll do that when pigs fly.
Literal: As soon as I look out my window and see
a flying pig, I will get right on that.
Figurative: It’s never going to happen.
Examples
You are one smart cookie!
Literal: You are a real, live cookie with a very big
brain.
Figurative: You are an intelligent person.
Remember…
Figurative is language that you have to
“figure out.” You can’t go exactly by
what it means.
Types of Figurative Language
Simile, Metaphor and Personification
Standard
ELACC8RL4: Determine the meaning of words
and phrases as they are used in a text,
including figurative and connotative
meanings; analyze the impact of specific
word choices on meaning and tone, including
analogies or allusions to other texts.
Simile
A simile is a comparison of two people,
objects, or ideas that uses the words
“like” or “as” or “than”
Example
The shop owner is as busy as a bee.
Example
It was quiet like a library at midnight.
(Brenda Woods)
Example
She floated gracefully down the halls like a
butterfly.
Poem Sample
Flint by Christina Rossetti
An emerald is as green as grass,
A ruby red as blood;
A sapphire shines as blue as heaven;
A flint lies in the mud.
A diamond is a brilliant stone,
To catch the world's desire;
An opal holds a fiery spark;
But a flint holds a fire.
Metaphor
A metaphor compares people, things or
ideas without using the words like or as.
It makes a direct connection.
Example
You are what you eat.
Example
He was a solid rock against his enemies.
Example
That test was a nightmare!
Metaphor Poem by Lill Pluta
My brother is a dragon.
My Mom’s a teddy bear.
I am a shaggy sheep dog
With a ton of tangled hair.
My father is a monkey
He likes to make us laugh,
Especially my sister
Who is a tall giraffe
We are a busy family
With many things to do.
Our home is always happy,
But sometimes it’s a zoo.
Personification
• Personification describing something that
isn’t human by giving it human-like qualities.
Example
The stars danced playfully in the moonlit sky.
Example
Most pianos have pretty good manners but
Steven can make them sound rude.
Example
The trees dropped their leaves and rested.
Example
Any trust I had for him walked right out the
door.
My Dinner is Dancing
My food loves to prance, to jump, to dance;
I wait for the time, I wait for the chance!
As mommy goes in and out of the room;
tables and chairs become their ballroom!
I flick my fingers; swing my wrist.
Beans and turkey are doing the twist!
Peas, plumbs, apples or a mango;
on to the walls, they're doing the tango!
Types of Figurative Language 2
Hyperbole and Idiom
Standard
ELACC8RL4: Determine the meaning of words and
phrases as they are used in a text, including
figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the
impact of specific word choices on meaning and
tone, including analogies or allusions to other
texts
ELACC8L5: Demonstrate understanding of figurative
language, word relationships, and nuances in
word meanings.
a. Interpret figures of speech (e.g. verbal irony,
puns) in context.
Hyperbole
• Hyperbole An exaggerated statement used to
create an effect. It is used to emphasize a
point.
Example: She’s said for you to be quite on
several million occasions.
Poetry Sample
On a Snowy Day
Everyone looks like snowmen.
So much snow that it’s piling up to heaven.
The fireplace is aglow like a giant’s oven.
Our cups of hot chocolate are piled
To the roof of the house
With marshmallows.
We scurry in the house, a bunch of hurried mice,
On a snow day.
Poetry Sample
School Fight
You can’t hear a pin drop
As all the kids gather around;
They are vultures
Waiting for the corpse
Of the one who loses.
The tall kid…
He swings his fist with his hurricane force.
A torrential spray of blood
Explodes from the smaller boy’s nose
And covers the tiled floor.
The vultures fly away
As the teachers quickly approach.
Idiom
• An idiom is an expression in one language
that cannot be matched or directly translated
word-for-word in another language. It is
commonly known that it’s meaning is not
literal.
Example
It’s raining cats and dogs outside!
Example
• Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.
Example
He is head over heels for her!
Example
You are the cheese to my macaroni.
Poem Sample
'You can't cry over spilled milk! '
my mother always said.
'Life's not a piece of cake! '
she hammered in my head.
'That's the way it goes,
' that's the way the cookie crumbles'
My mother saved her idioms
for all my idiotic troubles.
--John Randal
Poem Sample
Cat Got Your Tongue
I was feeling shy when my uncle came.
"Has the cat got your tongue?" he said.
He must have meant, "Why aren't you talking?“
Because my tongue was still in my head.
—Adele Tolley Wilson
I’ll give you the moon!
The Difference
Hyperbole
This is general
exaggeration for an
effect. It is not a
specific saying.
Ex. I am about to
starve to death.
Idiom
This is a special
expression used for
an effect. It would
not make sense
literally.
Ex. I’m so hungry, I
could eat a horse.
Task
• Requirement: Create a poem using two of the
following: personification, metaphor, idiom,
hyperbole or simile.
Form: Author’s Choice
Topic: Author’s Choice