1. Also known as Figures of Speech
Figurative Language
Also known as Figures of Speech

2. Types of Figurative Language
Simile – comparison between two unlike things, using like, as, resembles or than
Metaphor – refers to one thing as if it were another unlike thing without the use of like, as, resembles or than
Personification – a type of metaphor in which nonhuman things or qualities are referred to as if it were human
Symbol – a person, place or thing that has meaning on its own, as well as standing for something else
Hyperbole – extreme exaggeration used for emphasis.

3. The Toaster A silver-scaled Dragon with jaws flaming red
Sits at my elbow and toasts my bread.
I hand him fat slices, and then, one by one,
He hands them back when he sees they are done.
-- William Jay Smith

4. Apartment House A filing cabinet of human lives
Where people swarm like bees in tunneled hives,
Each to his own cell in the towered comb,
Identical and cramped—we call it home.
-- Gerald Raftery

5. The Base Stealer Poised between going on and back, pulled
Both ways taut like a tightrope-walker,
Fingertips pointing the opposites,
Now bouncing tiptoe like a dropped ball
Or a kid skipping rope, come on, come on,
Running a scattering of steps sidewise,
How he teeters, skitters, tingles, teases,
Taunts them, hovers like an ecstatic bird,
He’s only flirting, crowd him, crowd him,
Delicate, delicate, delicate, delicate – now!
-- Robert Francis

6. Dreams Hold fast to dreams For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
-- Langston Hughes

7. April It’s lemonade, it’s lemonade, it’s daisy.
It’s a roller-skating, scissor-grinding day;
It’s gingham-waisted, chocolate flavored, lazy,
With the children flower-scattered at their play.
It’s the sun like watermelon,
And the sidewalks overlaid
With a glaze of yellow yellow
Like a jar of marmalade.
Continue …

8. April continued … Then the rich magenta evening
Like a sauce upon the walk,
And the porches softly swinging
With a hammockful of talk.
It’s the hobo at the corner
With his lilac-sniffing gait,
And the shy departing thunder
Of the fast departing skate.

9. April continued … It’s lemonade, it’s lemonade, it’s April!
A water sprinkler, puddle winking time,
When a boy who peddles slowly, with a smile remote and holy,
Sells you April chocolate for a dime.
-- Marcia Masters

10. Fireworks Not guns, not thunder, but a flutter of clouded drums
That announce a fiesta: abruptly, fiery needles
Circumscribe on the night boundless chrysanthemums.
Softly, they break apart, they flake away, where
Darkness, on a svelte hiss, swallows them.
Delicate brilliance: a bellflower opens, fades,
In a sprinkle of falling stars.
Night absorbs them
With the sponge of her silence.
-- Babette Deutsch

11. Examples of Simile Her lips were soft as rose petals.
My love is like a can of tuna. 
The water sparkled like thousands of diamonds.
The dog danced around like loose litter in the wind.

12. Examples of Metaphor Her eyes were saucers.
Harry, the brightly dressed peacock.
The Olympic runner is the wind …
Mr. Smith is an encyclopedia of sports trivia.
The cup of hot tea was the best medicine for my cold.

13. Examples of Personification
The light danced on the surface of the water.
I could hear the animals laughing as I traveled, lost, in circles, through the forest.
The clouds cried …

14. Examples of Symbolism Dove – peace Chains – imprisonment
Cross – Christianity
Flag – patriotism
Red – passion; violence; blood
Spring – new beginnings; birth
Lamb – gentleness; innocence

15. Examples of Hyperbole My shoes are killing me!
It’s raining cats and dogs!
I died laughing.
My mom’s going to explode when she gets my grades!