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Figurative Language and Imagery. Figurative Language. Definition: Words or phrases that describe one thing in terms of another and is not meant to be understood at the literal level. Literal: factual (you mean exactly what you say)
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Figurative Language • Definition: Words or phrases that describe one thing in terms of another and is not meant to be understood at the literal level. • Literal: factual (you mean exactly what you say) • Ex. “I let the cat out of the bag” literally means someone let a cat out of a bag. • Ex. “I let the cat out of the bag” figuratively means that I told a secret that I should not have.
3 Main Types of Figurative Language • Simile: a comparison between 2 unlike things using the words “like” or “as” • Ex. Your eyes are like the stars • Metaphor: A comparison between 2 unlike things NOT using the words “like” or “as” • Ex. Your eyes are stars • Personification: When an author gives a non-human item human traits or qualities • Ex. My computer hates me
Metaphors by Sylvia Plath I'm a riddle in nine syllables, An elephant, a ponderous house, A melon strolling on two tendrils. O’ red fruit, ivory, fine timbers! This loaf's big with its yeasty rising. Money's new-minted in this fat purse. I'm a means, a stage, a cow in calf. I've eaten a bag of green apples, Boarded the train there's no getting off.
Imagery • Definition: Language that appeals to the 5 senses. • Helps the reader to see and feel what is going on in a story. • Gives the reader the impression that they are there in the middle of the action.
Imagery Example • Grandmother Workman lurched over and grabbed the pale skin of Randal's thin forearm with her leathery hand. The folds and creases beneath her skin coiled themselves out like electrical wiring, like the bloated, roughly-textured relief map of the world that his mother just posted above his bedside table. Randal looked ahead toward the winding spiral staircase, fidgeted with a small hole in his baseball jersey, and bit his lip. His mouth filled with the sweet, coppery taste of blood as she leaned in closely toward him, breathing her hot breath on the damp hair at the base of his neck. She smelled of wet cigarettes and bacon. As they slowly climbed the long, steep staircase, the only sound was his grandmothers' labored breathing and the mournful creak of the wooden stairs.
