what is figurative language

1. Figurative Language
Figuring it Out

2. Figurative and Literal Language
Literal: words function exactly as defined
The boy’s room was messy.
The left fielder dropped the baseball.
Figurative: You have to figure it out
The boy’s room was a pigsty.
The left fielder has butterfingers.
^These are figures of speech.

3. Simile
A comparison of two different things
using the word “like” or “as.”
Examples
Telephone wires hung like a musical score
Compares telephone wires to a musical score
Those faces, sour as vinegar;
Compares facial expressions to the taste of vinegar

4. Warning!
“Like” and “as” don’t always make similes.
A comparison must be made.
Not Simile: I washed the dishes as she dried
them.
Simile: The dishes were as clean as the
inside of a full bottle of soap.
In the first example, no comparison is made.
In the second, the cleanliness of the dishes
is compared to the inside of a soap bottle.

5. A comparison of two different things
without using the word “like” or “as.”
Examples
Flowers of thought blossom while reading
Compares thinking to blossoming flowers
Drink of sweet courage until drunk of it
Compares courage to a liquid drink
She was my lute, by her I sang
Compares the girl to a lute
Metaphor

6. Personification
Giving human traits to objects or ideas.
Examples
The stars are hiding now
Gives stars the ability to hide.
Or trees that whisper in some far, small town
Gives trees the ability to whisper.
A tree may wear a nest of robins in her hair
Gives the tree hair and the ability to wear things.

7. Hyperbole
Exaggerating to express a strong feeling
Examples
I will love you until the end of time.
It is unlikely that the speaker will live that long.
My dad would kill me if he knew about this.
Dad probably wouldn’t actually kill his own child.
My book bag weighs a million pounds.
The bag isn’t even close to a million pounds.

8. Understatement
Expression with less strength than expected.
The opposite of hyperbole.
Examples
The guillotine will give you a bad hair day.
The results will be much worse than bad hair.
Kidnapping your host is considered rude.
This is a serious crime much worse than rudeness.