This document discusses various figures of speech used in creative writing. It provides examples of common figures of speech like simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, alliteration, onomatopoeia, apostrophe, irony, litotes and oxymoron. It explains what each figure of speech is through examples from literature. The purpose of using figurative language is to help readers better understand text by using words in creative, non-literal ways to convey ideas and images. Figures of speech give impact and emphasis in writing.

1. FIGURES OF SPEECH
CREATIVE WRITING

2. 2 PICS 1WORD/ PHRASE

4. pancake

6. headlight

8. honeymoon

10. Butterflies in my stomach
- you are anxious and have a nervous feeling

12. Piece of cake
- something easily done

14. Break a leg
- wishing someone good luck, especially before a performance

16. An arm and a leg
- Very expensive

17. ●What is the purpose of using figurative
language?
●How does using figurative language help
readers better understand text?
●How do figures of speech give impact in
writing?

18. Figures of Speech
Figures of speech or figurative language are words or
expressions not meant to be taken literally. Figures of speech
use words in fresh, new ways so as to suggest and produce
pictures and images in a reader’s mind, bypassing logic and
appealing directly to the imagination in order to give
particular emphasis to an idea or sentiment.

19. Figures of Speech
Simile-indirect comparison of two unlike things
using “like” or “as” Sample Text: “Then she burst into
view, a girl lovely as morning and just as fair…”
(Waywaya, F. Sionil Jose)
Ex: I wandered lonely as a cloud.

20. Figures of Speech
Metaphor- direct comparison between two objects Sample
Text: “Everything that exists, aromas, light, metals were little
boats that sail toward the isles of yours that wait for me…” (If
You Forget Me, Pablo Neruda)
Ex: The world’s a stage, he was a lion in battle, drowning in
debt, and a sea of troubles.

21. Figures of Speech
Personification-attribution of human qualities to a thing
Sample Text: ‘“Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly
stopped for me; The carriage held but just ourselves And
immortality.’” (Because I Could Not Stop For Death, Emily
Dickinson)
Ex: The bashful flowers, blushing birds and trembling
shadows.

22. Figures of Speech
Hyperbole-exaggeration Sample Text: “Well now, one winter
winter it was so cold that all the geese flew backward and all
the fish moved south, and even the snow turned blue. Late
that night, it got so frigid that all spoken words froze solid
afore they could be heard.” (Babe, the Blue Ox, retold by S.E.
Schlosser)
Ex: I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.

23. Figures of Speech
- Alliteration-repetition of the first consonant
of neighboring words Sample Text: “Leap
- Ex: A flea and a fly in a flue

24. Figures of Speech
Allusion-use of person, place, or thing as reference Sample Text: “The
morning wind forever blows; the poem of creation is interrupted, but
few are the ears that hear it. Olympus is but the outside of the earth
everywhere.” (Walden, Henry David Thoreau)
Ex: The pendum
Is a thing of dread
To nervous persons like me
It reminds one of swaying Iscariot
Sudpended from a tree

25. Figures of Speech
Onomatopoeia-use of words that mimic sounds Sample Text:
“Boy, I rang that doorbell fast when I got to old Spencer’s
house.” (The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger)
Ex: water plops into pond
Splish-splash downhill
Warbling magpies in tree
Trilling, melodic thrill

26. Figures of Speech
Apostrophe - is a figure of speech in which some absent or
non-existent person or thing is addressed as if present and
capable of understanding or replying.
Ex: Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.

27. Figures of Speech
Irony - is a figure of speech in which words are used in such a way that
their intended meaning is different from the actual meaning of the
words. It may also be a situation that may end up in quite a different
way than what is generally anticipated. In simple words, it is a difference
between the appearance and the reality.
Ex: Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.

28. Figures of Speech
Litotes - is a figure of speech consisting of an ironical understatement in
which affirmative is expressed by the negation of the opposite. In this figure
of speech, the usages are intentional, ironical and provide emphasis to the
words. This is mainly done through double negatives. To put it in simple
terms, in litotes, instead of saying that something is attractive, you say that
it is not attractive.
Ex: “And she was no beauty queen.
She was in love at just sixteen”

29. Figures of Speech
Oxymoron - is a figure of speech in which two
opposite ideas are joined to create an effect.
Ex: The bookful blockhead ignorantly read,
With loads of learned lumber in his head
With his own tongue still edifies his ears
And always list’ning to himself appears.

30. Write a poem, letter or a short story based on
the problem situation given below. Choose
only one situation and write at least 100 to
200 words. Use appropriate word in writing to
convey thought clearly.

31. A. One of the major problems faced by the urban residents in Tagbilaran is the
traffic congestion. A big concern is how to speed up the traffic. Putting more
buses on the road will jam the roads even worse and pollute the air.
B. Some people define themselves by what they believe, while others allow them
actions to speak to them. Write your idea or impression on which is more
important: what a person thinks or what a person does.
C. Dave, a senior high school student has moved from his house over the last two
weeks because he did something stupid that made his parents furious by not
prioritizing his study instead, he always fond of playing online games. Write
your ideas of what might be going through of Dave’s mind.

32. Evaluation
Activity 1: Read the following sonnet written by Pablo Neruda. Answer the questions that
follow.
One Hundred Love Sonnets Pablo Neruda I don’t love you as if you were
a rose of salt, topaz,
or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:
I love you as one loves certain obscure things,
secretly, between the shadow and the soul.
I love you as the plant that doesn’t bloom but carries
the light of those flowers, hidden, within itself,

33. And thanks to your love the tight aroma that arose
from the earth lives dimly in my body.
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from
where,
I love you directly without problems or pride:
I love you like this because I don’t know any other
way to love,
except in this form in which I am not nor are you,
so close that your hand upon my chest is mine,
so close that your close with my dreams.

34. Questions:
1. What figure of speech is used lines 1-6?
2. What figure of speech is used in lines 7 and 8?
Activity 2: Identify the figures of speech used in the following lines.
1. You are the dew on the morning grass and the burning wheel of the sun.
2. A hot wind was blowing around my head, the strands of my hair lifting and
swirling in it,
like spilled in water.

35. Questions:
3. The roof might fly off, the walls might buckle from the pressure of his rage.
4. And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.
5. ARIEL:
Hark, hark!
Bow-wow.
The watch-dogs bark!
Bow-wow.
Hark, hark! I hear
The strain of strutting chanticleers Cry,
‘cock-a-diddle-dow!’

36. “There is no rule on how to write. Sometimes it
comes easily and perfectly: sometimes it’s like
drilling rock and then blasting it out with charges.” ~
Ernest Hemingway