2. Metaphor An Implicit juxtaposition of two unlike objects (Meyer 660) Much like a simile, but… Comparison is done without use of grammatical markers Creates a direct comparrison
3. Example of Metaphor “Presentiment- is that long shadow- on the lawn” by Emily Dickinson “Presentiment- is that long shadow- on the lawn-/ indicative that Suns go down” (Meyer 661) Compares the foreboding sense of things to come to shadows.
4. Simile “Similes are an ‘explicit’ variation of a metaphor and usually contain one grammatical marker” (Garman-Gard 29) Grammatical Markers include… Like AS As if
5. Example of Simile “You Fit Into Me” by Margret Atwood “You Fit into me/ like a hook into an eye/ a fish hook/ an open eye” (Meyer 660) The simile here is “you fit into me like a hook into an eye”
6. Synecdoche “a figure of speech in which part of something is used to signify the whole” (Meyer 664) A small facet of a person, place, or object is used to represent the thing which it is part of.
7. Example of Synecdoche “Schizophrenia” by Jim Stevens “The house came to miss the shouting voices,/ the threats, the half apologies...” (Meyer 673) The voices represent people in conflict
8. Metonymy Literary technique in which something related to the subject is used interchangeably for the subject (Meyer 664)
9. Example of Metonymy “The hand that signed the paper” by Dylan Thomas “A goose’s quill has put an end to murder/ that put an to talk” (Meyer 664) The goose’s quill represents the power that ruler’s have.
10. Idiom “A construction or string of words whose intended meaning in context is different from the literal meaning of the construction.” (Garman-Gard 97)
11. Common Idioms Kick the bucket Hit the hay Breaking the ice Kick out the jams Hold you horses
12. Symbolism “A symbol is… an object, a person, a place, an event, or an action [that] can suggest more than its literal meaning.” (Meyer 680) Usually represent a larger theme in the piece
13. Example of symbolism “A Poison Tree” by William Blake “And it grow both day and night,/ till it bore an apple bright an apple bright.” (Lynch 96) It refers to the tree in the poem The tree represents anger The apple is the product of anger
15. Works Cited Dobrovol'skij, Dmitrij, and Elisabeth Piirainen. Figurative Language: Cross-cultural and Cross-linguistic Perspectives. Vol. 13. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2005. Print. Gorman-Gard, Kathleen A. Figurative Language: a Comprehensive Program. Eau Claire, WI: Thinking Publications, 1992. Print. Meyer, Michael. The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing. Ninth ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2012. Print. Stillinger, Jack, and Deidre Lynch. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Romantic Period. Eighth ed. Vol. D. New York, NY: Norton, 2006. Print. Images from Clip Art
