Figurative Language

1. Figurative Language Language used to create a special feeling or event

2. Personification • Explanation • Giving humanlike qualities to inanimate objects • Example • “They were the first faces of hell and death” (Wiesel, 17).

3. Hyperbole • Explanation • An exaggerated description of an object used to emphasize a point • Example • “There are a thousand and one gates allowing entry into the orchard of mystical truth” (Wiesel, 5).

4. Simile • Explanation • A comparison using like or as • Example • “…tears, like drops of wax, flowed from his eyes” (Wiesel, 5).

5. Metaphor • Explanation • A comparison of two unrelated objects in order to create similar meaning • Example • “The stars were only sparks of the fire which devoured us. Should that fire die out one day, there would be nothing left in the sky but dead stars, dead eyes” (Wiesel, 18)

6. Diction • Explanation • The writer’s word choice the adds to the style of writing in a poem or story • Example • “Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky…” (Weisel 34)

7. Figurative Language Language used to create a special feeling or event

8. Personification • Explanation • Example • “They were the first faces of hell and death” (Wiesel, 17).

9. Hyperbole • Explanation • Example • “There are a thousand and one gates allowing entry into the orchard of mystical truth” (Wiesel, 5).

10. Simile • Explanation • Example • “…tears, like drops of wax, flowed from his eyes” (Wiesel, 5).

11. Metaphor • Explanation • Example • “The stars were only sparks of the fire which devoured us. Should that fire die out one day, there would be nothing left in the sky but dead stars, dead eyes” (Wiesel, 18)