SYMBOL AND FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

SYMBOL AND FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE Terminology Symbol – something that stands for or represents something else (letters of English language represent different sounds); in literature a symbol compares or puts together 2 things that are in some ways dissimilar. Examples: white dove = peace, love; rose = godly love, romantic desire, female beauty, mortality, hidden cruelty; snake = evil Archetypes – common, cross-culture symbols such as trickster, quest, garden, fire, water, flower, or tree. Allegory – “extended” symbol or series of symbols that encompasses an entire work

SYMBOL AND FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE Terminology Continued Myth – when an entire story is allegorical (generally related to religion) Figurative Language – this is similar to symbols in that they supplement or replace literal meaning, often by creating imaginative connections between our ideas and our senses. Bending the usual meaning of language. (Also called Tropes, they bend the meaning of language and shape our response to a work. Some rely on vision, also called Images or Imagery) Rhetoric – the art and science of speech and persuasion.

Key Figures of Speech Allegory – extended association sustained in every element of the text. Allusion – a reference (brief) to another text or person or external entity (Bible, etc.) Irony – meaning or outcome contrary to what is expected. Verbal: when text says one thing and means another. Sarcasm: intended meaning is harshly critical or mocking. Metaphor – representation of one thing as if it were something else (doesn’t use “like” or “as”). Metonymy – using the name of one thing to refer to another thing associated with it (red tape).

Key Figures of Speech Continued Oxymoron – a combination of contradictory or opposite ideas, or entities (wise fool). Personification – (anthropomorphism) attributing human qualities to objects or animals Simile – representation of one thing as if it were something else (uses “like” or “as”). Symbol – a person, place, object, or image that represents more than its literal meaning. Synecdoche – a form of metonymy in which the part represents the whole (a sail refers to a ship).