Figurative Language Lesson

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE Definition: Figurative language is using figures of speech to be more effective, persuasive and impactful. Figures of speech such as metaphors, similes, allusions go beyond the literal meanings of the words to give the readers new insights.

Simile Definition: A comparison of two unlike things using like or as.

Examples: The baby is as cute as a kitten!

The siblings fought like cats and dogs.

METAPHOR Definition: makes an implicit, implied, or hidden comparison between two things that are unrelated but share some common characteristics. It is a resemblance of two contradictory or different objects is made based on a single or some common characteristics.

Examples: My brother was so destructive it’s as if he were a bull in a china shop.

My class assignment was a breeze.

Be careful not to confuse simile and Metaphor!

Hyperbole Definition: An exaggerated statement or claim not meant to be taken literally. An idea used to emphasize something.

Examples: This television weighs a ton!

I’m so embarrassed, I just died if shame!

***It is important not to confuse hyperbole with simile and metaphor. It does make a comparison but unlike simile and metaphor, hyperbole has a humorous effect created by an overstatement.

PERSONIFICATION Definition: Giving human like qualities to an animal or inanimate object. We, the reader, often feel they have the ability to act and do human things.

Examples: Lightning danced across the sky.

My alarm clock yells at me every morning.

Get Up before you’re late!!!!

ALLITERATION Definition: The repetition of the same letter or sound occurring at the beginning of a series of words.

Examples: Bonnie bought a baby blue bonnet He helped her hurt head heal

*** Remember the similar sounds occur at the BEGINNING!

ONOMATOPEIA Definition: A word, which imitates the natural sounds of a thing.

It creates a sound effect that mimics the thing described, making the description more expressive and interesting.

Examples: The cat screeched a loud MEOW! The door slammed shut with a BANG! The monkey CRASHED the cymbals!!

*** Just remember it is a sound!

IDIOM Definition: An expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meaning. They basically, have different meanings from their literal meaning.

Examples: It is raining cats and dogs.

That test was a piece of cake.

Don’t go crying over spilt milk.

QUIZ TIME! Directions: Read the following examples of figurative language.

Identify the poetic device being used. Write the letter of your answer on the line to the right.

1. The streets were strange and still, / Through the doors of the open churches The organs were moaning shrill. a. simile b. metaphor

c. hyperbole

d. personification

2. Chicago is a city that is fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action. a. personifiction b. metaphor c. simile

d. onomatopoeia

3. She soothed her secret sorrow. a. hyperbole b. alliteration c. metaphor

d. simile

4. Silver bells!... How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle in the icy air of night. a. simile

b. hyperbole c. onomatopoeia d. alliteration

5. He answered her he knew not what: / Like shaft from bow at random shot, a. simile

b. personification c. repetition

d. metaphor

6. Chant in a wail / that never halts, / pace a circle and pay tribute / with a song. a. rhyme

b. simile

c. personification d. hyperbole

7. Vague pageants woven on a web of dream! fighting in the turbid stream / Of modern life a. simile b. metaphor

And we, pushing and

c. understatement d. hyperbole

8. He would contemplate the distance / With a look of pensive meaning, As of ducks that die in ill tempests. a. simile b. metaphor c. personification d. onomatopoeia

9. And I will return, my love, / even if it were a million miles. a. personification b. onomatopoeia c. hyperbole

d. simile

10. Women under the gas lamps luring the farm boys. a. onomatopoeia b. hyperbole

c. personification d. alliteration

Figurative Language is FUN!