1. Figurative Language Key Terms and Vocabulary

2. Objectives By the time you finish taking notes on this presentation, you should understand the definitions of the following terms and be able to identify examples of each. Simile/Metaphor (extended metaphor) Symbol Personification Imagery

3. Simile A figure of speech in which one thing is compared with another by using the words like or as The purpose of a simile is to compare the qualities of one thing to emphasize the qualities of another Here are some very basic examples of simile: His eyes were burning like the coals of a fire. With this simile, you emphasize the intensity of the eyes by comparing them to burning coals. In the morning, the lake was as liquid gold. With this simile, you subtly emphasize the effect the rising sun has on the water in the lake.

4. Metaphor A figure of speech in which one thing is equated with another. The purpose of a metaphor is to use the qualities of one thing to emphasize the qualities of another Here are some very basic examples of metaphor: His eyes were burning coals. With this metaphor, you emphasize the intensity of the eyes by comparing them to burning coals. In the morning, the lake was liquid gold. With this metaphor, you subtly emphasize the effect the rising sun has on the water in the lake.

5. Metaphor Here is a more advanced example of a metaphor, from William Shakespeare’s Macbeth: “Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.” MACBETH Scene V There are actually three metaphors in this excerpt. Can you identify all three of them?

6. Metaphor All three metaphors in that quote use “life” as the point of comparison. The three things that Macbeth compares “life” to are: “a walking shadow” “a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage” “a tale told by an idiot” By comparing “life” to three things that seem somewhat insignificant, trivial, or insubstantial, Macbeth is able to reflect on what he feels is the meaninglessness of his life.

7. Extended Metaphor One important variation on the concept of “metaphor” is that of the “extended metaphor.” An extended metaphor is when an author introduces a metaphorical concept at the beginning of a work and then further develops that metaphor throughout the whole work. You usually won’t see an extended metaphor stated as explicitly as the ones we looked at earlier.

8. Extended Metaphor Example In “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost, he uses the extended metaphor of ‘roads’ to represent the idea of the choices we make in our lives. Throughout the poem, he uses the roads to represent the difference between making the easy choice and making the more difficult one. Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

9. Symbol A person, place, or thing in a work of literature that stands as what it literally is but ALSO stands for something more than itself. This is different from a metaphor, because in a metaphor, the comparison is not usually literal. In the earlier examples, the person’s eyes were not literally burning coals and the lake was not literally made out of gold. In a symbol, the object in question does exist in a literal sense, but it also represents a larger idea or concept.

10. Symbol Many famous examples of symbolism in literature can be found in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. One of these symbols is the billboard depicting the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg that looms over the valley of ashes. There is literally a billboard in the setting that depicts these eyes, but it’s not JUST a billboard. The billboard represents other ideas as well. For example, it could be seen as a symbol for the importance placed on consumerism in Modern America at the expense of God.

11. Personification A figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human qualities, or treated as though it is a human. The last point is also sometimes called “anthropomorphism” Why do poets and authors do this? One major reason is that humans pretty much think of themselves as the most important thing in the entire world. So, by giving something human qualities, you are emphasizing its importance!

12. Personification One example of personification can be found in William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury: “There were about a dozen watches in the window, a dozen different hours and each with the same assertive and contradictory assurance that mine had, without any hands at all. Contradicting one another.” Because the concept of time is bothering the character, Quentin, a lot, he makes it seem like the watches are intentionally being “assertive and contradictory” – something a watch is not actually capable of having!

13. Imagery At its most straightforward, the use of words to create images. Usually uses the five senses, but most often the sense of sight. Can work together with other devices such as simile or metaphor to create images.