Figurative Language Review

FIGURATIVE Definition: Figurative describes something that is not to be interpreted literally, but that instead uses a symbol or a likeness Example: “She's the head of the company.” Can you think of any other ways to use head in a figurative way?

SIMILE Definition: a figure of speech in which two unlike things are explicitly compared using like, than, or as Example: “The sleeping and the dead are but as pictures.” What could this mean? Can you think of a simile for an angry person?

METAPHOR Definition: a metaphor can be described as a comparison that shows how two things that are not alike in most ways are similar in other important ways. Example: "Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more.” What could this mean? Can you think of a metaphor for an angry person?

HYPERBOLE Definition: Extreme exaggeration Example: “Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red.” What could this mean? Can you think of a hyperbole for a really cold day?

PERSONIFICATION Definition: giving human qualities to inanimate objects. Example: “Methought I heard a voice cry, ‘Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep’—the innocent sleep, Sleep that knits up the raveled sleave of care…” How is this personification? Can you think of a way to personify a messy student’s locker?

ONOMATOPOEIA Definition: Words that create an auditory effect similar to the sound they represent. Example: “Thrice the brinded cat hath mew’d.” Can you think of any other examples of onomatopoeia?

ALLITERATION Definition: Repeating a consonant sound in close proximity to others, or beginning several words with the same vowel sound Example: “But now I am cabined, cribbed, confined, bound in To saucy doubts and fears.” Can you think of any other examples of alliteration?

SYMBOL Definition: A word, place, character, or object that means something beyond what it is on a literal level. Example: Blood “Here's the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. O, O, O!” What could the blood on Lady Macbeth’s hand symbolize? Can you think of any other symbols?

PARADOX A seemingly contradictory statement that reveals an important truth Example: “Fair is foul and foul is fair.” What could this mean?

OXYMORON a combination of contradictory/opposing words Example: “I know this is a joyful trouble to you.” Where is the oxymoron?