Figurative Language Poetry

Figurative and Literal Language Literally: words function exactly as defined The car is blue. He caught the football. Figuratively: figure out what it means I’ve got your back. You’re a doll.

Review Setting: is an environment or surrounding in which an event or story takes place (time, place, weather, etc.). Mood: is a literary element that evokes certain feelings or vibes in readers through words and descriptions. It can be developed through setting, theme, tone and diction .

Review Continued… Speaker: – the narrative voice of a poem that speaks of his or her situation or feelings. Remember that in poetry, the speaker is NOT the same as the author of the poem. Tone: is an attitude of a writer toward a subject or an audience. Tone is generally conveyed through the choice of words or the viewpoint of a writer on a particular subject.

Tone Continued… Every written piece has a central theme or subject matter. The way in which a writer approaches this theme and subject is the tone. The tone can be formal, informal, serious, comic, sarcastic, sad, and cheerful or it may be any other existing attitudes.

Theme Theme: is defined as a main idea or an underlying meaning of a literary work that may be stated directly or indirectly.

Some You May or May Not Know Metaphor Two things are compared without using “like” or “as.” Examples: -All the world is a stage. -Men are dogs. -Her heart is stone.

Simile Comparison of two things using “like” or “as.” Examples: -The metal twisted like a ribbon. -She is as sweet as candy. Important Using “like” or “as” doesn’t make a simile. A comparison must be made. Not a Simile: I like pizza. Simile: The moon is like a pizza.

Personification Giving human traits to objects or ideas. Examples -The sunlight danced. -Water on the lake shivers. -The streets are calling me.

Hyperbole Exaggerating to show strong feeling or effect. Examples -I will love you forever. -My house is a million miles away. -She’d kill me.

Imagery Means to use figurative language to represent objects, actions and ideas in such a way that it appeals to our physical senses. It’s not just what we can see!

Imagery Examples It was dark and dim in the forest. – The words “dark” and “dim” are visual images. The children were screaming and shouting in the fields. – “Screaming” and “shouting” appeal to our sense of hearing or auditory sense. He whiffed the aroma of brewed coffee. – “whiff” and “aroma” evoke our sense of smell or olfactory sense. The girl ran her hands on a soft satin fabric. – The idea of “soft” in this example appeals to our sense of touch or tactile sense. The fresh and juicy orange is very cold and sweet. – “ juicy” and “sweet” when associated with oranges have an effect on our sense of taste or gustatory sense.

Alliteration It is a stylistic device in which a number of words, having the same first consonant sound, occur close together in a series. Consider the following examples: But a better butter makes a batter better. A big bully beats a baby boy.

Onomatopoeia is defined as a word, which imitates the natural sounds of a thing. It creates a sound effect that mimics the thing described, making the description more expressive and interesting. Examples