FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE How to figure it out!

Figurative Language v.s. Literal Language What’s the Difference??

Language that means exactly what it says. Figurative Language Language that does NOT mean exactly what it says. Literal Language Language that means exactly what it says.

HYPERBOLE A deliberate exaggeration…often used for effect.

I’m so hungry I could eat a horse! Hyperbole Making a point by exaggerating or using an overstatement or magnification of something. I’m so hungry I could eat a horse!

SIMILE A comparison of two dissimilar things using “like” or “as” Example…”The test was as easy as pie!.”

METAPHOR Comparison of two dissimilar things WITHOUT using “like” or “as” in which one thing is spoken of as though it were something else. Example…Life is a broken winged bird.

ALLITERATION The repetition of the initial consonant sound Example…Fourteen foul fungi

PERSONIFICATION Giving a nonhuman subject some sort of human characteristic Example…The house was lonely after the people moved out.

Personification Giving human characteristics or qualities to ideas or things. The darkness devoured me. The wind screamed through the house. The trees waved in the storm. The ocean whispers sweet melodies in my ear.

ONOMATOPOEIA Use of words to imitate sounds Example…whirrrrr, buzzzzz, hiss

Onomatopoeia the naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it (as buzz, hiss)

Allusion A reference to a person, place, or thing in another artistic work (literature, art, music, history, painting, or mythology). Example: Paul’s obsession with money reminds me of King Midas.