Attention getting
language that can make your words more memorable or help you illustrate a point
in a lively and colorful way.
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SOUNDS: ALLITERATION: Repeated consonant
sounds "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers" ASSONANCE: Repeated Vowel sounds "The June moon loomed over the horizon" ONOMATOPOEIA: Words sound like what
they are "The
fire crackled and the popcorn popped." |
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OTHER
IRONY: (Using language to turn a
situation against itself or to illustrate strange twists of fate. In irony words can be used to convey a
meaning exactly opposite to what is “literally” being said.) ALLUSIONS: (References to other works of art: often “The Bible”, Shakespeare, or Greek mythology) |
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Also See: |
Some definitions and examples:
• Metaphor:
A metaphor speaks of something as though it were something else.
Here are three kinds of metaphor:
(1) The descriptive metaphor speaks of something concrete by referring
to something else concrete. Take for example: "It was a fine day. The trees swayed like dancers lost in reverie.
As they waltzed the afternoon away the breeze continued to wind its mournful
tune."
(2) The abstract metaphor explains an abstract principle by
comparing it to something more concrete. For example: "My cup runneth over." (The writer of this biblical Psalm
speaks of the life that submits to divinity in terms of a cup that is full and
continues to be filled.)
(3) The embedded metaphor uses a verb or a noun in a non-literal
fashion. For example: "The darkness
threw itself upon the land with a sigh of relief." (Obviously darkness
cannot really throw itself upon the land-- it only seems to do so. The metaphor
"The darkness threw itself upon the land" is embedded because it
merely suggests that the night is like a lover overwhelmed after a long absence
or a man exhausted after a hard day at work.)
• Simile: A simile is a particular kind of metaphor that speaks of
something as similar to something else. You can usually recognize similes by
the presence of the word "like" or "as." For example:
Alice is a very beautiful young woman: she is as pretty as a rose.
• Hyperbole: A hyperbole is an exaggeration so great that no one could
possible take it literally. For example: "He made my skin crawl." (We don't expect that the speaker in
such a case is physically affected by her encounter with another person: she
simply doesn't like him and has expressed the extent of her dislike by
exaggerating).
"My date last night was more attractive than a naked
goddess of love on a million dollar bill."
• Synecdoche: In synecdoche a part of something represents the whole. For
example: "One does not live by bread
alone." The statement assumes that bread is representative of all
categories of food. Or: "All hands
on deck!" The statement equates the workers with the part of the body
that performs much of their work-- the hands.
"Have you got your wheels, man?"
“They sold fifty head of cattle”
“There were some new faces on the committee.”
• Metonymny: In metonymy some attribute of what is being described is used to
indicate the whole. When referring to a king, for example, one may instead say
"the crown"-- that is, the
physical attribute that is usually identified with royalty.
“England beat Germany in the 1966 World Cup
You cannot fight city hall.
This land belongs to the crown.
The White House has not yet reacted to the most recent scandal charges.
CONCEIT:
An extended metaphor
that doesn't make sense at first.
"My compass love for you is true."
(This John Donne conceit makes sense only when we realize he is
talking about a
drawing compass and he means his love is the center of his
universe.)
PARADOX:
Something that at first
seems to contradict itself
"A little learning is a dangerous
thing." (This line from Alexander
Pope requires a bit of thought to realize the key
word is "little". Pope wants us to learn all we can.)
“Some people are more equal than others”
PERSONIFICATION:
Making an inanimate
object act like a person or animal
"The fog crept in on little cat feet."
“The sun smiled down on us as if we were her children
This coffee is strong enough to get up and walk away.
Rosy-fingered dawn
• Understatement:
An understatement seeks to express a thought or impression by underemphasizing
the extent to which a statement may be true. Understatement is the opposite of
hyperbole and is frequently employed for its comedic value in articles,
speeches, etc. when issues of great importance are being discussed. For
example:
"Jen had stolen his watch, put a dent in
his car, and kept him from spending time with his buddies. Needless to say,
Jack had acquired a less than favorable opinion of his ex-girlfriend."
• Irony:
Irony involves making a statement that means the opposite of what it states
literally. Suppose you happen to be experiencing a streak of bad luck: your
house has been robbed, your cat just died, your best friend is mad at you, and
this morning you backed your car into a tree. You cry in exasperation: "Well that's just great!"
Clearly you don't mean that you're happy about this sequence of events: you
have just made an ironic statement. You may also encounter irony in pieces of
literature or anecdotes. One of the most famous examples of literary irony is Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: it is ironic that the
lovers die as a result of the plan that was meant to ensure their spending the
rest of their lives together.
Allusion:
An allusion is a reference to another famous work of art. It could be a book, a poem, a song, or
“I feel so
suicidal, just like Dylan’s Mr. Jones”
“If my wife
finds out what I did with the rent money, she’ll crucify me.”
Some things to watch out for when employing figurative language:
• Beware of clichés!
Clichés are usually forms of figurative language ("dead as a doornail," "cutting
edge," "an axe to grind,"
"a bone to pick," etc.).
Clichés are often metaphors that were once fresh and attention getting, but now
they are “as old as the hills."
• Avoid extended
metaphors.
Occasionally you will come up with a metaphor that illustrates your point so
completely that you want to share your ingenuity with the reader. A metaphor
should make one point very quickly: its purpose is to clarify and stimulate.
Extended metaphors tend to make readers less and less impressed with the
comparison the longer it lasts. The same imagery just gets redundant and
uninteresting after a while.
• Avoid mixed
metaphors. If you say
something like this “We are all in the
same boat, and have to work hand in glove or we will finish last in the game of
life”, you are guilty of mixing metaphors.
A metaphor works when it creates a memorable or helpful image in the
reader’s mind. Too many such images will probably distract the reader from
whatever point you are trying to make.
• Thus, you should never
base an argument on figurative language. No analogy is flawless. Things can be compared
on certain levels but there is a point at which every analogy breaks down. If
your reader is paying attention to your rhetoric he will be able to refute the
thesis of your paper quite easily
Special thanks to Billy Marshall StoneKing (http://homepages.go.com/~wstoneking/index57.html) for almost all of the above definitions and examples.