Figurative Language and
Poetic Devices
Figurative Language
• Figurative language communicates ideas beyond
the literal meaning of words.
• FIGURATIVE: She left the room like a cheetah
chasing its prey.
• LITERAL MEANING/IDEA EXPRESSED: She left
the room quickly.
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• Writers use these tools to communicate
descriptions and abstract ideas to the reader in a
way that’s creative and, sometimes, even more
truthful than literal language.
You are the wind beneath my wings.
• FIGURATIVE: Your
support and
friendship helps me
in my life.
• LITERAL: You are
actually wind
underneath my
wings.
Figurative Language
• Figurative language communicates ideas
beyond the literal meaning of words.
FIGURATIVE
After our fight at the mall, every time I saw my
best friend I was walking on egg shells.
• WHAT IS THE DECODED MEANING OF
THIS SENTENCE?
Figurative Language
• However, what’s tricky for readers is that we
must often decode the figurative language
into literal language to understand the
writer’s meaning.
• In English III, beyond just identifying “that’s a
metaphor” or “that’s personification”, we
want to think about the writer’s purpose:
• WHY did the writer use that particular
figurative language or device?
• WHAT IDEA is he or she trying to express?
1. SIMILE
• used to compare two different
things or ideas using like or as.
His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and
breaking alliances, like underpants in a dryer
without Cling Free.
A) What’s being compared in this
simile?
B) What’s the purpose? What idea is
the writer expressing?
2. METAPHOR
• a figure of speech which makes a direct or
implied comparison (without like or as) between
two things or ideas that are poles apart from
each other but where the writer notices a shared
characteristic between them
All the world’s a stage, and all the men
and women merely players…
~ William Shakespeare
A) What’s being compared in this
metaphor?
B) What’s the purpose? What idea is
the writer expressing?
The difference between similes
and metaphors
• Simile: Ryan is as hungry as a
bear. OR Ryan is like a hungry
bear.
• Metaphor: Ryan is a real bear
when he gets hungry.
IMPLIED METAPHOR
is a metaphor that is not as obvious
because it’s not explicitly stated using the
verb “is”
My Kentucky-fried skin was red after
too many hours in the sun.
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IMPLIED METAPHOR …
is a metaphor that is not as obvious
because it’s not explicitly stated using the
verb “is”
“Now is the time to lift our national policy
from the quicksand of racial injustice to the
solid rock of human dignity.”
~MLK, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”
A)What’s being compared in this
metaphor?
B)What’s the purpose? What idea is the
writer expressing?
IMPLIED METAPHOR
Often a VERB is used to make an implied
metaphor.
She drove cruel rumors about me all over the
school, denting and smashing my reputation
to pieces.
A)What’s being compared to
what in this metaphor?
B)What’s the purpose? What
idea is the writer expressing?
WEAK similes or metaphors…
occur when we attempt to compare two things
that are too similar or that belong to the same
category.
The dirty pond was like a polluted river.
The old oak tree was the earth of our
backyard.
Her face was an oval of flesh.
It's just apples versus oranges, and it's not a level
playing field by any means.
Dead or Clichéd Metaphors/Similes
back against the wall
the ball’s in your court
as big as a house
bite the bullet
as busy as a bee
cool as a cucumber
to be on fire
fit as a fiddle
like a deer in the headlights
go the extra mile
heart of gold
throw your hat in the ring
turn over a new leaf
light at the end of the tunnel
to open a Pandora’s box
as pure as snow
ships that pass in the night
a thorn in my side
These figures of speech--and there are many more--are fine to
use in every day conversation, but we want to avoid them in our
writing because they’ve lost their force and imaginative
effectiveness because of frequent use.
3. PERSONIFICATION
• A figure of speech in which inanimate
objects or abstract concepts are given
human qualities.
Death walked in the door and
refused to leave.
3. PERSONIFICATION
MIRROR by Sylvia Plath
I am silver and exact.
I have no preconceptions.
Whatever I see I swallow immediately.
Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.
I am not cruel, only truthful-What’s being given what human qualities?
3. PERSONIFICATION
Common phrases not
technically considered
true personification:
the wind blows
the birds sing
the grass grows
arm of the chair
legs of the table
shoulder of the road
foot of the bed
hands of the clock
shoulder of the road
the body of an essay
4. HYPERBOLE
Using exaggeration--something that
could never actually happen--for
emphasis or effect.
I could sleep for a year.
4. HYPERBOLE
My English III textbook weighs a
ton.
4. HYPERBOLE
“…when you have cursed the wind
for its effect on a ball; when you’ve
had the pressure of an entire game
on your foot—then you will
understand what it’s like to be a
kicker.”
~excerpt from Kevin M.’s MLK periodic sentence
Where is the hyperbole in this passage?
What truth is the writer attempting to express?
What idea is this guy in the
waiting room expressing by
making this hyperbolic
statement?
5. allusion
an indirect or implied reference to a person,
place, event, or idea already known by the
reader/audience from history, literature, religion,
politics, sports, or popular culture
“We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and
listen to the song of that siren, till she transforms us
into beasts.”
~Patrick Henry’s Speech to the Virginia Convention
Most often writers use allusions as a simile or metaphor, such as the
example above where Patrick Henry is comparing the guile of the
British to Circe in The Odyssey.
5. allusion
Mine's a tale that can't be told, my freedom I hold dear.
How years ago in days of old, when magic filled the air.
T'was in the darkest depths of Mordor, I met a girl so
fair. But Gollum, and the evil one crept up and slipped
away with her, her, her....yeah.
~ lyrics from Led Zeppelin’s “Ramble On”
A) What other work is being alluded to in this song?
B) What’s the purpose of this allusion? What does this choice show
about the girl the speaker met and what happened in their
relationship?
6. Parallel Structure
• using the same grammatical structure or pattern of
words, phrases, or clauses to show that two or more
ideas have the same level of importance
NOT PARALLEL:
Ellen likes hiking, the rodeo, and to take afternoon naps.
A little more Parallel:
Ellen likes hiking, attending the rodeo, and taking afternoon naps.
Best:
Ellen likes hiking mountains, attending rodeos, and taking naps.
6. Parallel Structure
• using the same grammatical structure or pattern of
words, phrases, or clauses to show that two or more
ideas have the same level of importance
WE REAL COOL by Gwendolyn Brooks
We real cool. We
Left school. We
Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We
Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We
Jazz June. We
Die soon.
In this poem, it’s not
just the repetition of the
word “we” that give this
parallel structure.
(one-syllable verb, one-syllable adjective)
(one-syllable verb, one-syllable adjective)
(one-syllable verb, one-syllable noun)
(one-syllable verb, one-syllable noun)
Poetic Sound Devices
1. ALLITERATION
• the repetition of consonant SOUNDS at the
beginning of the strongest stressed syllable in
a word--most of the time this means the
beginning of a word.
Don't dream it. Drive it.
Jaguar advertising slogan
1. ALLITERATION
• the repetition of consonant SOUNDS at the
beginning of the strongest stressed syllable in
a word--most of the time this means the
beginning of a word.
Example: Below the belt
This is actually not great alliteration
because in the word “Below” the
stress falls on the SECOND syllable
of the word, which starts with “l”.
1. ALLITERATION
• the repetition of consonant SOUNDS at the
beginning of the strongest stressed syllable in
a word--most of the time this means the
beginning of a word.
Example: Above the belt
Though these words begin with
different letters, their stressed
syllables begin with the same letter,
so we hear alliteration.
1. ALLITERATION
• It’s important to remember that alliteration is
about the repetition of consonant SOUNDS, not
letters.
Example: The Physics of fish
is fun!
Though “Physics” and “fish” start
with different letters, they alliterate
because they begin with the same
sound.
1. ALLITERATION
• It’s important to remember that alliteration is
about the repetition of consonant SOUNDS, not
letters.
Not Alliteration: Thin Tin…
Though both words begin with the
consonant “t”, they don’t begin with
same SOUND.
1. ALLITERATION
• To truly alliterate, the repeating sounds must be
close together (back to back) OR if spread out,
there must be multiple repetitions of the sound
Not Alliteration: Please tell me
just where you’d like to play.
Legit Alliteration: Please tell
Pam that it’s time to play and
practice.
2. ASSONANCE
• the repetition of vowel sounds within neighboring
words (So, not the same as words at the ends of lines
rhyming.) Assonance creates INTERNAL rhyming.
I bomb atomically. Socrates'
philosophies and hypotheses
can't define how I be droppin'
these mockeries.
from the Wu-Tang Clan’s
"Triumph"
2. ASSONANCE
• the repetition of vowel sounds within words
Who fuses the music
With no illusions
Producing the blue prints
Clueless?
Automator - defy the laws of nature
Electronic monolith throw a jam upon the disc
The futuristic looper with the quickness
Hyper-producin' hydrogen fusion liquids—
keep your distance
from Del The Funky
Homosapien’s “Mastermind"
2. ASSONANCE
• Like alliteration, this is about the repetition of a
SOUND, not letters.
Assonance?:
Treat the bread
Nothing gold can stay
Though these words contain the same
vowels, the SOUNDS are different.
2. ASSONANCE
• Like alliteration, this is about the repetition of a
SOUND, not letters.
Assonance?
Should sugar
A queasy sweep
Though these words contain different
vowels, the SOUNDS are the same.
3. ONOMATOPOEIA
• a word that imitates the sound it represents