Allusion, Personification, Hyperbole
Allusions are references made to something or someone in another
time or place or in another piece of writing. An author frequently
uses allusions to relate something else to what is presently happening
in a story. It is a form of imagery like similes, metaphors, or
personification.
Common things to which a writer might allude are Biblical stories,
stories from mythology, legends, and history. Sometimes titles of
books are themselves allusions, such as John Steinbeck’s East of Eden
(from the bible) and Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls
(from a poem by John Donne).
When Calpurnia tells Jem and Scout she is going to take them
to church, Scout recalls a not-very-nice trick her Sunday class
one played on Eunice Ann Simpson. They tied her to a chair
in the furnace room and then went off and forgot her until
Eunice managed to make a ruckus, disrupting the service
upstairs and saying she didn’t want to “play Shadrach any
more.”
This expression, “play Shadrach,” is an allusion to a story in
the Bible’s Old Testament in which three Hebrew children
named Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are thrown into a
fiery furnace by the king and are later found unharmed.
“Dill had seen Dracula, a revelation that moved
Jem to eye him with the beginning of respect”
(Lee 9).
• This is a reference to the 1931 movie, Dracula, starring Bela
Lugosi.
• “…to eye him” in this context means to judge someone with
a new perspective.
1.“To be or not to be, that is the
question.”
2.The Third Reich
3.“I Have a Dream”
4.“We have nothing to fear but fear
itself.”
5.Garden of Eden
Personification is when you assign the qualities of a person to
something that isn't human or, in some cases, to something that isn't
even alive. There are many reasons for using personification. It can be
used as a method of describing something so that others can understand.
It can be used to emphasize a point. It is a commonly favored literary
tool, and you may in fact use personification without even knowing it.
1. The stars danced playfully in the moonlit sky.
2. The run down house appeared depressed.
3. The first rays of morning tiptoed through the
meadow.
4. She did not realize that opportunity was knocking
at her door.
5. He did not realize that his last chance was walking
out the door.
6. The bees played hide and seek with the flowers as
they buzzed from one to another.
1. “The remains of a picket drunkenly guarded the front yard” (Lee
10).
2. “The misery of the house began many years before Jem and I
were born’ (Lee 11).
3. “Mr. Radley’s older son lived in Pensacola; he came home at
Christmas, and he was one of the few people we ever saw enter
or leave the place. From the day Mr. Radley took Arthur home,
people say the house died” (Lee 14-15).
4. “The house was the same, droopy and sick, but as we stared
down the street we thought we saw an inside shutter move.
Flick. A tiny, almost invisible movement and the house was still”
(Lee 19).
• What is left of the fence around the Radley house
stands like someone who has had too much to drink.
• The sadness of the place has a history.
• Giving the house human characteristics sheds
additional light on the author’s characterization of
the people who live in the house.
1. The wind howled its mighty objection.
2. The snow swaddled the earth like a
mother would her infant child.
3. The river swallowed the earth as the
water continued to rise higher and
higher.
4. Time flew and before we knew it, it was
time for me to go home.
5. The ocean waves lashed out at the boat
and the storm continued to brew.
A hyperbole is an extreme exaggeration used to make a point. It is like
the opposite of “understatement.” It is from a Greek word meaning
“excess.” Hyperboles can be found in literature and oral
communication. They would not be used in nonfiction works, like medical
journals or research papers; but, they are perfect for fictional works,
especially to add color to a character or humor to the story.
Hyperboles are comparisons, like similes and metaphors, but are
extravagant and even ridiculous.
1. “I’ve told you a million times”
2. “It was so cold, I saw polar bears wearing jackets”
3. “She is so dumb, she thinks Taco Bell is a Mexican
phone company”
4. I am so hungry I could eat a horse.
5. I have a million things to do.
6. I had to walk 15 miles to school in the snow, uphill.
7. I had a ton of homework.
8. If I can’t buy that new game, I will die.
“The world's endin', Atticus! Please do something-!” I dragged
him to the window and pointed (Lee 86)
"Well how'd you feel if you'd been shut up for a hundred years
with nothin' but cats to eat? I bet he's got a beard down to here".(Lee 62).
• Scout’s surprise at seeing snow made her think
the impossible had occurred.
• Dill’s imagination offered an unrealistic passage
of time, demands of an appetite, and growth of
facial hair!
1. He is as skinny as a toothpick.
2. This car goes faster than the speed of light.
3. That new car costs a bazillion dollars.
4. We are so poor; we don’t have two cents to rub
together.
5. That joke is so old, the last time I heard it I was
riding on a dinosaur.
6. They ran like greased lightning.
7. He's got tons of money.
8. You could have knocked me over with a feather.
9. Her brain is the size of a pea.
10.He is older than the hills.
• Allusions are references made to something
or someone in another time or place or in
another piece of writing.
• Personification is when you assign the
qualities of a person to something that isn't
human or, in some cases, to something that
isn't even alive.
• A hyperbole is an extreme exaggeration
used to make a point.
• He's got tons of money.
• “I was surprised his nose was not growing like
Pinocchio’s.”
• You could have knocked me over with a feather.
• The popcorn leapt out of the bowl.
• When the DVD was on sale, it flew off the shelves.
• “I thought the software would be useful, but it was a
Trojan Horse.”
• The waffle jumped up out of the toaster.
• Her brain is the size of a pea.
• I tripped because the curb jumped out in front of
me.
• He is older than the hills.
• Time creeps up on you.