Figurative Language

Figurative language is language that
communicates ideas beyond the ordinary
meanings of words.

Types of figurative language are called
figures of speech.
Figurative Language

A simile makes a comparison between two
things using the word like or as.
“Dressed like a Spanish waiter”
(“Incident in a Rose Garden” by Donald
Justice
Simile

A metaphor makes a comparison between
two things without using the words like or
as.
“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely
players:”
(As You Like It by William Shakespeare)
Metaphor

Human qualities are attributed to an
object, animal, or idea.
“It’s small and red with tight steps in front
and windows so small you’d think they
were holding their breath.”
(The House on Mango Street by
Sandra Cisneros)
Personification

Exaggerating the truth for emphasis or for
humorous effect.
“You could liquidate the stock here and feed
an African nation for a year.”
(“Life Without Go-Go Boots” by Barbara
Kingsolver)
Hyperbole

Drastically reducing the importance of
something by stating it simply
Juggling chainsaws is a tad risky.
Understatement

The use of words such as pow, buzz, and
crunch whose sounds suggest their
meanings.
“Eyelid and lash were seared; the pierced
ball
Hissed broiling,…”
(The Odyssey by Homer)
Onomatopoeia

A figure of speech which has a different
meaning from its literal meaning.
“Butterflies in my stomach” really means
nervous.
“It’s raining cats and dogs” means its
raining heavily.
Idiom

A play on words: a humorous use of
words that involves a word or phrase that
has more than one possible meaning.
“Using deodorant is no sweat.”
“I’m reading a book about anti-gravity. It’s
impossible to put down.”
Pun

Repetition of beginning sounds.
“Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed
. . .”
(“The Highwayman” by Alfred Noyes)
Alliteration

Assonance repeats vowel sounds to create
a rhythm or beat.

“I must confess that in my quest I felt
depressed and restless.”
~Thin Lizzy, "With Love"
Assonance

Assonance examples are sometimes hard to find, because
they can work subconsciously and are subtle. The long
vowel sounds will slow down the energy and make the
mood more somber, while high sounds can increase the
energy level of the piece.

Notice how the mood is set by using the long “A” in this
excerpt from Cormac McCarthy's book, Outer Dark:
“And stepping softly with her air of blooded ruin about the
glade in a frail agony of grace she trailed her rags through
dust and ashes, circling the dead fire, the charred billets
and chalk bones, the little rib cage.”
The words "glade," "frail," "grace," and "trailed" help
set the chilling mood of the work, and it is repeated and
emphasized at the end with “ribcage.”
Assonance

In this example by Carl Sandburg, in “Early Moon” the long
“O” sounds old or mysterious.
“Poetry is old, ancient, goes back far. It is among the
oldest of living things. So old it is that no man knows how
and why the first poems came.”
Assonance

Consonance is the repetition of two or more
consonant sounds within a line, preceded by
different vowel sounds. Often the consonant
sounds come at the very end of the word, but they
come in the middle as well.

In the sample below, note the repetition of the letter
d in the first line and the repetition of the digraph sh
in the 2nd line.
Breed and bread
 Flash and fresh

Consonance

Edgar Allan Poe was a master of assonance,
consonance, and alliteration. From The Raven:
“And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each
purple curtain”
◦ Assonance is the “ur” sound in “purple” and “curtain”
◦ Consonance is the “s” sound in “uncertain” and
“rustling”
◦ Alliteration is shown in the “s” sound at the beginning
of "silken" and "sad".
All of the Above