Figures of Speech

1. 2 PICS,
1 PHRASE

3. Piece of cake (easy to achieve)

5. Break a leg (good luck)

7. Butterflies in my stomach
(very nervous or excited)

9. Raining cats and dogs
(to rain very heavily)

12. Figures of speech, also
referred to as figurative
language, are words or
phrases that express
meanings in a nonliteral
way. These expressions are
often used for comparison
and for conveying
emotions.

15. A. FIGURES OF RELATIONSHIP
Simile
Metaphor
Metonymy
Synecdoche

17. Examples:
1. You are as brave as the lion.
2. O my love is like a red, red rose
That’s newly sprung in June;
The persona in this poem compares his love
to a red rose that blooms in springtime

19. METAPHOR
A metaphor is a figure of speech that
describes something by saying it’s
something else. It is not meant to be
taken literally.

20. Trees are poem that the earth
writes upon the sky.
--Khalil Gibran
In the given quote, trees are likened to poems, and the
comparison does not use words such as like or as.

21. METONYMY
Metonymy refers to using a thing or idea
that is not referred to by its own name
but by a different one, a name of
something with which it is closely
associated.

22. Examples:
 1. I’m mighty glad Georgia waited till after Christmas before it
seceded or it would have ruined the Christmas parties.
--from Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
In the given line, Georgia is not used to refer to a place or state but rather
the people making up the state: its citizens and government officials
 2. The pen is mightier than the sword.
-- from the play Richelieu written by Edward Bulwer Lytton
The intellect and the thoughts are more powerful than physical acts of
violence during war.

24. A synecdoche uses a part of something to represent the
whole or the whole to represent a part.
Examples:
1. I feel like the world is against me today.
In this sentence, “the world” does not mean the entire globe, but rather
the parts you interacted with today.
2. We have hungry mouths to feed.
In the phrase, “mouths” is used to represent the hungry people and it is
synecdoche because mouths are part of people.

25. B. FIGURES OF EMPHASIS
Hyperbole
Oxymoron
Paradox

26. Hyperbole uses
intentional
exaggeration to achieve
emphasis or produce a
comic effect.

27.  1. I had to wait in the station for ten days—
eternity.
--from Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.
The use of the word eternity to describe a wait of
ten days is an exaggeration. It simply emphasizes
that the persona waited for so long.
 2. I am so hungry, I could eat a horse.
 3. I walked a million miles to get here.

28. An oxymoron is a word or a combination of
words with contradictory meanings, as
bittersweet and open secret.
Examples:
1. Everyone was amazed at her foolish
wisdom.
2. Why, then O brawling love! O loving hate!
O anything, of nothing first create!
--from Romeo and Juliet by William
Shakespeare.
The phrase loving hate is an oxymoron, as it
makes use of two contradictory terms.

29. Paradox
 1. The Child is the father of a Man.
--quote for My Heart Leaps Up when I Behold, William
Wordsworth
The given statement may appears silly at first, but what it
conveys is that the experiences of the child shape who
he/she becomes and how he/she acts as an adult.
 2. The more you learn, the more you realize how
little you know.
--Socrates adage
Every time you gain a greater understanding, it creates
even more questions than it answers.
A paradox is a statement that
appears to hold contradictory
ideas but may actually be true.

31. B. FIGURES OF SOUNDS
Alliteration
Onomatopoeia

32. Alliteration refers to the use of
closely spaced words that have the
same initial sounds.
1. Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever
dared to dream before
-- quote from the Raven, Edgar Allan Poe
The neighboring words doubting, dreaming, dreams,
dared, and dream begin with the d sound giving the
line a musical quality.
2. While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there
came a tapping…
- The Raven, Edgar Allan Poe

33. Onomatopoeia is the use of words that
imitate the sound of what they are referring
to.
1. Hark, hark!
Bow-wow.
The watch-dogs bark!
Bow-wow
Hark, hark! I hear
The strain of strutting chanticleers
Cry, ‘cock-a-diddle-dow!
--from The Tempest by William Shakespeare
The words bow-wow and cock-a-diddle-dow are
examples of onomatopoeia as they are animal
sounds.

35. Paper-Pencil Test
Test I. Answer the following questions.

36. 1. Words or phrases that express meanings
in a nonliteral way are referred to as
figurative language or _______________.

37. 2. Onomatopoeia and alliteration are
classified as ______________.

38. 3. What are figures of emphasis?

39. 4. What figure of speech is used in the sentence
below?
The fair breeze blow, the white foam flew
The furrow followed free.

40. 5. Shaneah is writing a poem, and she wants it to have
auditory imagery so that the reader could imagine
hearing every twang and noise referred to in the
poem.
What should Shaneah use in her poem?

41. Test II.
Read the following lines from various literary works.
Identify what literary device is being utilized in the
said lines.

42. 1. Love is like a painting
filled with all colours and shades
love is like a bleeding heart
cut with many sharp blades
love is like a never ending story
that always begins with a kiss
love is like a space everlasting
that fills bitterness with bliss
love is like the circle of eternity
always there to take for free
- Love is Like by Allen Steble
Answer: _________________________________

43. 2. You are my sunshine
that made my dusk life bright
but burnt and blind me.
- Ency Bearis
Answer: __________________________________

44. 3. Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there
wondering, fearing, Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever
dared to dream before
- The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe
Answer: __________________________________

45. Assignment
Enumerate the literary techniques with
definition used by literary writer. Write
your answers in a one whole sheet of
paper.