Figures of Speech (Figurative
Language)
<Literary Notes Section>
• Metaphor: indirect comparison made between
two unlike things (without using “like” or “as”)
– Ex.: “My baby sister is a doll.”
• Simile: comparison between two things using
“like” or “as” (“than,” “similar to,” “resembles,”
“appears,” or “seems”).
• Symbol: a thing (object, person, situation, or
action) which stands for something more than
itself.
– Ex.: The American flag -> freedom/US; 50 stars ->
50 states
• Personification: giving a nonhuman thing
human-like characteristics
– Ex.: “The tree danced in the breeze.”
• Hyperbole (overstatement): an exaggeration
of the truth that is not intended to be taken
literally.
– Ex.: “I had so much fun shopping yesterday that I
spent a billion dollars.”
• Understatement: saying less than is true
– Ex.: “Wow, I just saw you fall of the roof! Did that
hurt?” “Just a little…”
• Irony: a contrast/discrepancy between what is
expected/said and what really happens/truth
– Dramatic irony: the reader knows something that
a character does not
– Verbal irony: what is being said is not true (like
sarcasm)
– Situational irony: a twist in the story in which
something happens which both the reader and
character(s) did not expect
• Alliteration: repeated consonant sounds
occurring at the beginning (within) words
– Ex.: “Sally sells seashells by the seashore.”
• Onomatopoeia: a word that imitates a sound
– Ex.: “hiss,” “buzz,” “snap”
• Apostrophe: addressing something that cannot
respond (absent/dead person, something
nonhuman, an abstract, etc.)
– Ex.: “Why you got to die, puppy?”
• Allusion: in reference to a statement, person,
place, thing, literature, sports, TV, history, etc.
• Antithesis: a contrast of ideas expressed in a
grammatically balanced statement.
– Ex.: “…wretches hang so that jurymen may dine.”
• Synecdoche: a part of a thing that stands for
the whole
– Ex.: “All hands on deck!”
• Idioms: groups of words whose meaning is
different from the ordinary meaning of the
words.
– Ex.: “Put a lid on it!” “Take a hike!” “Cat got your
tongue?” “Don’t let the cat out of the bag!” “He
came out the closet.”
“The Scarlet Ibis” Figures of Speech
Chart (384)
Figure of Speech Example
Ex.: symbol
The scarlet ibis represents Doodle.
Ex.: metaphor/
personification
“…summer was dead but autumn had
not yet been born…” (384)
Directions: Find 10 figures of speech in the story. You may not
repeat a particular figure of speech more than 3 times.
1.
2.
“The Scarlet Ibis” Guidelines for Notes
(Period 1, 384)
• Definition of “ibis”:
• Definition of “allegory”:
• Characters:
– Narrator
– Doodle
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Point of View
Setting
Plot
Conflict(s)
Irony
Symbolism
Theme
Climax/Resolution
“The Scarlet Ibis” Notes (4th Period,
384)
Define “allegory”:
•
• Define “ibis”:
• Setting:
• Characters
– Narrator
– Doodle
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Plot:
Point of view:
Irony:
Conflict(s):
Rising/Falling Action:
Theme(s):
Unknown terms: