Figures of Speech Figurative language uses figures of speech to convey unique images and create some sort of special effect or impression. A “figure of speech” is an intentional deviation from the ordinary usage of language. faculty.nwacc.edu/ljlovell/Powerpoints/figurativenew.ppt, modified by Rebecca Oberg

Poetry works by comparison Poets often create images or enhance meaning by comparing one thing to another for special effect. An important figure of speech is the Metaphor

Metaphor The term metaphor has two meanings, a broad, more general meaning and a concise, specific meaning. All figures of speech which use association, comparison, or resemblance can generally be called types of metaphor, or metaphorical. One specific figure of speech which compares two things by saying that one IS the other is called a metaphor.

Metaphor A metaphor compares two items, but in a quite sophisticated way. For one thing, in a metaphor, the words like or as are missing. So readers have to recognize the comparison on their own without those easy words which help us to spot a simile so quickly.

Razorback Stadium was a slaughterhouse. Metaphor (continued) In a metaphor, a poet writes that X is Y. Readers understand that we are not to take the comparison literally, but that the metaphor helps us to see X in a new way. My brother is a prince. Razorback Stadium was a slaughterhouse.

More metaphors Richard was a lion in the fight. Her eyes are dark emeralds. Her teeth are pearls. But Avoid Mixed Metaphors (combining two or more incompatible images in a single figure of speech): Management extended an olive branch in an attempt to break some of the ice between the company and the workers.

Implied Metaphor An implied metaphor lacks the actual “to be” verb (is, am, are, was, were and other such forms of the verb “to be”) What is implied here about the speaker’s love? Oh, my love has petals and sharp thorns. Oh, I placed my love into a long-stemmed vase And I bandaged my bleeding thumb. And here, what is implied about the city and the subway? The subway coursed through the arteries of the city.

Extended Metaphor This kind of metaphor may run through an entire work. In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, for example, the farm is compared to a nation, with different possible forms of goverance. This comparison extends throughout the novel. Sometimes a poet will use an extended metaphor throughout a poem rather than simply as one single figure of speech in a poem.

Dead Metaphor Avoid the use of clichés in your own writing! A dead metaphor has been so used and overused that it has lost its power to surprise, delight, or effectively compare. A cliché is a dead metaphor, a phrase so often repeated that it no longer has force: He hit the nail on the head. She was cool as a cucumber. Jump out of the frying pan and into the fire. Avoid the use of clichés in your own writing!

Simile A simile is a very specific type of metaphorical comparison, a figure in which an explicit comparison is made using the comparative words like or as. Similes are easy to spot. Keep in mind, though, that similes and metaphors are very different in their effect and stylistic impact. (X is like Y: X is compared to Y in order to illustrate X more fancifully, poetically, or effectively. But Y is not a literal representation of X, not actual.) The team’s center looked like a skyscraper. My love is like a red, red rose. We were as quiet as frightened mice.