Figurative Language
Figurative language is a tool
that an author uses, to help
the reader visualize, or see,
what is happening in a story or
poem.
Types of Figurative Language
Simile is a comparison using like
or as. It usually compares two
unlike objects.
Example: His feet are as big as
boats. Feet and boats are
being compared.
Metaphor states that one
thing is something else. It is a
comparison, but does NOT use
like or as to make the
comparison.
Example: Her hair is silk. Hair
and silk are being compared.
Hyperbole -is intentionally
exaggerated figures of speech.
Example: It was raining cats
and dogs.
Personification is giving human
qualities, feelings, actions, or
characteristics to inanimate
(not living) objects.
Examples:
The house stared at me with
looming eyes.
The ancient car groaned into
first gear.
Oxymoron- Figure of speech in
which two terms appear to
contradict each other.
Examples: Cruel kindness, hard
rock, jumbo shrimp
Symbolism occurs when one
thing stands for or represents
something else.
Example: The dove symbolizes
peace.
Imagery involves one or more
of your five senses – the
abilities to hear, taste, touch,
smell, and see. An author uses
a word or phrase to stimulate
your memory of those senses
and to help create mental
pictures.
Example:
Idioms An expression that
means something other than
the literal meanings of its
individual words. They are
overused expressions.
Example: Put a lid on it. It’s
raining cats and dogs.
Sound Devices:
Techniques used to create as
sense of rhythm or to
emphasize particular sounds in
writing.
Alliteration is the repetition of
the initial consonant. There
should be at least two
repetitions in a row.
Example: Peter Piper picked a
peck of pickled peppers. The
first letter, p, is a consonant.
Its sound is repeated many
times.
Assonance: The repetition of
internal vowel sounds. Doesn’t
have to rhyme.
Example: Princess Kitty will
Kiss Timmy T. Tipper’s lips.
Consonance- When consonants
repeat in the middle or end of
words.
Example: I dropped the locket
in thick black mud.
He struck a streak of bad luck.
Onomatopoeia is the imitation
of natural sounds in word
form. These words help us
form mental pictures, or
visualize, things, people, or
places that are described.
Sometimes a word names a
thing or action by copying the
sound.
Example: Bong! Hiss Buzz!
Repetition: Repeating a word
or words for effect.
Example:
I’m nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody too?
Then there’s a pair of us-don’t
tell!
They’d banish us you know.
~ Emily Dickinson
Rhythm- When words are
arranged in such a way that
they make a pattern or beat.
The pattern of stressed and
unstressed syllables in spoken
or written language.
Rhyme Scheme- The sequence
in which the rhyme occurs.
The first end sound is
represented as the letter a, the
second b, etc.
Example:
Twinkle, twinkle little star A
How I wonder what you are
A
Up above the world so high
B
Like a diamond in the sky B
Rhyme- When words have the
same end sound. This happens
at the beginning, end, or middle
of lines.
Example: Car, star, far, tar
Exact Rhyme- Also known as
perfect rhyme. Two words
rhyme in such a way that their
final stressed vowel and all
following sounds are identical
Example: sight and light, right
and might, rose and does.
Half Rhyme- Also known as
slant rhyme, imperfect rhyme,
or near rhyme. Words that do
not rhyme exactly but have a
similar sound.
Examples: park and cart, pans
and hams
End Rhyme- Rhyme that occurs
at the end of lines
Internal Rhyme- Rhyme that
occurs within a single line of
poetry.
Example:The car seems so far
from the star
Stanzas- A group of lines in a
poem set off by blank lines.
Similar to a paragraph found in
prose.
Refrain- Stanza or line that is
repeated throughout the
poem.
Connotation- The ideas and
feelings associated with the
word as opposed to its
dictionary meaning.
Denotation- The dictionary
and literal meaning of a word
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