Figurative language

1. Figurative language Ms. Lyttle

2. Metaphor • Definition: a comparison between two unlike things • Example: “drowning in debt” • You may have a lot of debt but you are not literally drowning.

3. repetition • Definition: when words or phrases are repeated in poetry. • Example: telling the wind not to blow, • Telling the tide not to turn, • Telling a river not to flow,

4. hyperbole • Definition: extreme exaggeration in poetry. • Example: my sister uses so much makeup, she has to use a chisel to get it off!! • Example: in a house the size the size of a postage stamp, lived a man, as big as a barge….

5. personification • Definition: when a human qualities are given to animals or non human inanimate objects. • Example: the birds were singing in the trees “the washing machine purred”

6. mood • Definition: the reader’s attitude and feelings for the poem. • Example: the mood Is the feeling or atmosphere of a piece. The mood can be many different things. • A feeling of love, a feeling of doom, a feeling of fear, a feeling of pride, an atmosphere of chaos, and an atmosphere of peace.

7. alliteration • Definition: repetition of the same sound at the beginning of the words. • Example: “Shelley sells seashells by the seashore” or “acquainted with the night” by Robert Frost • I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet when far away an interrupted cry came over houses from another street.

8. simile • Definition: a comparison between two things that uses the words “like or as” • Example: “her smile is as bright as the sun.” “ the night sky glittered like diamonds.”

9. tone • Definition: the author’s feelings about their writing, the poet’s attitiu de bout their work

10. Idiom • A phrase in which the meaning is different than it’s literal meaning • Example: “kick the bucket”, “it’s raining cats and dogs”, or “icing on the cake”

11. Rhyme • When words with the same ending sounds are repeated • Seven/eleven/heaven (the “en” sound is repeated)

12. Onomatopoeia • Words that imitate sounds • Example: “wham, bam, slam, thank you ma’am”

13. Repetition • When words are repeated throughout poetry (look at the example below) Break em’ down Break em’ down Break em’ down The walls between us, break em’ down

14. Denotation and connotation • Denotation is the dictionary definition of a word (it’s literal meaning), connotation is the implied or underlying meaning of a word • Denotation of swag- a curved draping of cloth between two points, like curtains on a window • Connotation of swag- style, personal appearance and confidence