Figurative Language

1
Figurative Language

• Some reminders

2
Figurative language

• A way of saying something other than the literal
  meaning.
• In other words, one says or writes something, but
  means something else.

3
Simile

• Comparing two things using the words like or
  as.
• Example
• Buddha looks cool as a cucumber when hes
  meditating.
• Buddha doesnt really look or feel anything like
  a cucumber. The expression helps describe
  Buddhas appearance by comparing it to something
  else that may be familiar to readers.

4
Metaphor

• Comparing two things without using like or
  as. One thing is another.
• Example
• Buddha is a swimming fish when he is meditating.
• Buddha isnt really a fish, but his condition
  while meditating is being compared to the
  condition of a fish while swimming.

5
Personification

• When something non-living is given
  characteristics of living creatures.
• Example
• The bright paint breathes life into the once dull
  room.
• Paint doesnt really breathe. It makes the room
  seem livelier so we say that it breathes life
  to make the writing more vivid.

6
Imagery

• Creates an image in the mind of the reader using
  vivid description.
• Example
• The Buddha sits calmly and serenely in the
  dappled shade of the olive tree while he sinks
  ever more deeply into a trance of meditation.
• The idea in a passage like this is to describe an
  object or situation with enough detail so the
  reader can picture it.

7
Alliteration

• The repetition of initial consonant sounds.
• Example
• The beaming Buddha bought a bruised banana.

8
Assonance

• The repetition of vowel sounds.
• Example
• Im gonna enter into the front of your skin like
  a splinter.
• --Eminem

9
Repetition

• Repeating words or phrases to create a
  controlling theme in a text or to emphasize an
  idea.

10
Repetition, an example

• The odds of me standing here today are so
  small, so remote, that I couldnt have gotten
  here today. You know, my daddy left me when I was
  two years old. I needed some hope to get here. I
  was raised by a single mother. I needed some hope
  to get here. I got in trouble when was a
  teenagerdid some things folks now like to talk
  about. I needed some hope to get here. I wasnt
  born into money, or great wealth, or great
  privilege or status. I was given love, education
  and some hope. Thats what I got. Thats my
  birthright!
• --Barack Obama

11
Practice

• Now you have one example of each of the types of
  figurative language.
• In the space for the second example, you now must
  come up with your own original example.
• Notes with examples due at the end of the class.