1. Figurative Language in Fahrenheit 451

2. What is Figurative Language?
Figurative language is a style of writing that authors use to help readers visualize or picture the events or characteristics in their writing.
Examples include:
Simile: comparing two things using "like" or "as"
Metaphor: a comparison where one thing is figuratively transformed into another to reveal its essence
Personification: giving a non-human object human characteristics

3. Imagery
By using words to get the reader to visualize something makes the message more powerful.
Example: "...Montag had only an instant to read a line, but it blazed in his mind for the next minute as if stamped there by fiery steel." p. 34

4. Simile A simile is a comparison using the words “like” or “as.”
It helps readers visualize something better by creating an image.
Example: "They fell like slaughtered birds, and the woman stood below, like a small girl, among the bodies." p. 34

5. Metaphor
A metaphor compares two things by transforming one, artistically, into something else
This is done to capture the essence of the object being described
Example: "...and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning..." p. 1

6. Personification
Personification is a kind of metaphor where something  that is not alive is described as something that is alive.
This evokes a variety of images for the reader.
Example: "[The machine] drank up the green matter that flowed to the top in a slow boil. Did it drink of the darkness?" p. 12

7. Your Turn
With a partner, identify and explain examples of figurative language in the text.
Complete the Analyzing Figurative Language handout on page 11 in your packet.