Post by ernesto thaddeus m. solmerano on Jun 15, 2007 6:43:49 GMT -5
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
Figurative language is a type of language that varies from the norms of literal language, in which words mean exactly what they say. Also known as the “ornaments of language,” figurative language does not mean exactly what it says but instead forces the reader to make an imaginative leap to comprehend the poet’s point.
FUNCTIONS OF FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
1. Figurative language affords us imaginative pleasure.
2. Figures of speech are a way of bringing additional imagery into verse, making the abstract concrete, and making poetry more sensuous.
3. Figures of speech are a way of adding emotional intensity to otherwise merely informative statements and conveying attitudes and information.
4. Figures of speech are a means of concentration, a way of saying much in a brief compass.
KINDS OF FIGURES OF SPEECH
Allusion. A figure of speech that makes a brief reference to or a representation of person, place, event, literary work, myth, or a work of art, either directly or by implication.
"After Palanan"
by Angel Rene A. Iturralde
The pendulum
Is a thing of dread
To nervous persons like me.
It reminds one of swaying Iscariot
Suspended from a tree.
Antithesis. A figure of speech in which two contradictory or conflicting words, phrases, clauses, and ideas are juxtaposed, typically within parallel grammatical structures.
Green Lantern’s Oath
In brightest day, in blackest night,
No evil shall escape my sight.
Let those who worship evil's might
Beware my power—Green lantern's light!
Apostrophe. A figure of speech in which some absent or non-existent person or thing is addressed as if present and capable of understanding or replying.
From Jane Taylor's poem " Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
Asyndeton. A stylistic scheme in which conjunctions are deliberately omitted from a series of related clauses. The principal effect of asyndeton is to produce a hurried rhythm in the sentence.
She was young,
she was pure,
she was new,
she was nice,
she was fair,
she was sweet sixteen.
Chiasmus. A figure of speech in which two or more clauses are related to each other through a reversal of structures in order to make a larger point; that is, the clauses display inverted parallelism.
“Nice to see you, to see you nice.” (Sir Bruce Forsyth, The Generation Game)
The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. (Mark 2:27)
Hyperbole. An extravagant statement or the use of exaggerated terms for the purpose of emphasis or heightened effect.
From W.H Auden's poem "As I Walked One Evening",
I'll love you, dear, I'll love you
Till China and Africa meet,
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street,
I'll love you till the ocean
Is folded and hung up to dry
Irony. A statement or situation where the meaning is contradicted by the appearance or presentation of the idea.
From Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner",
Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.
Litotes. A figure of speech consisting of an ironical understatement in which the affirmative is expressed by the negation of the opposite.
Examples:
He’s no Prince Charming. (Disney’s Beauty and the Beast)
He's no spring chicken.
She isn't exactly a world class chef.
Metaphor. An implied comparison between two unlike things that actually have something important in common
“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.
Metonymy. A figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated
"The pen is mightier than the sword." - Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Oxymoron. A figure of speech in which two opposite words or ideas are joined to create an effect.
From William Shakespeare ‘s Romeo and Juliet
Good night, good night! parting is such sweet sorrow,
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.
From Alexander Pope's poem, "Essays of Criticism",
The bookful blockhead ignorantly read,
With loads of learned lumber in his head,
With his own tongue still edifies his ears,
And always list'ning to himself appears.
Paradox. A self-contradictory statement because it often contains two statements that are both true, but in general, cannot both be true at the same time.
"My Heart Leaps Up"
By William Wordsworth
My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.
Personification. A figure of speech in which an inanimate object, an animal or an idea is endowed with human qualities or abilities
“The Eagle”
By Alfred, Lord Tennyson
He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.
Pun. A play on words, sometimes on different senses of the same word and sometimes on the similar sense or sound of different words.
“Pragmatist”
by Edmund Conti
Apocalypse now.
Coming our way.
Ground zero at noon.
Halve a nice day
Simile. A stated comparison (usually formed with "like," "than," or "as") between two fundamentally dissimilar or unlike things that have certain qualities in common.
From Walt Disney’s “Bambi”
Love is a song that never ends
One simple theme repeating
Like the voice of a heavenly choir
Love’s sweet music flows on
Symbol. Using an object or action that means something more than its literal meaning
“Ah! Sunflower”
By William Blake
Ah! sunflower, weary of time,
Who countest the steps of the sun,
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
Where the traveller’s journey is done;
Where the youth pined away with desire,
And the pale virgin shrouded in snow,
Arise from their graves and aspire;
Where my sunflower wishes to go.
Synecdoche. A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole, the whole for a part, the specific for the general, the general for the specific, or the material for the thing made from it.
From T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”
There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
Understatement. A figure of speech in which a writer or a speaker deliberately makes a situation seem less important or serious than it is.
"It's just a flesh wound." (The Black Knight, after having both arms cut off, in Monty Python and the Holy Grail)
Figurative language is a type of language that varies from the norms of literal language, in which words mean exactly what they say. Also known as the “ornaments of language,” figurative language does not mean exactly what it says but instead forces the reader to make an imaginative leap to comprehend the poet’s point.
FUNCTIONS OF FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
1. Figurative language affords us imaginative pleasure.
2. Figures of speech are a way of bringing additional imagery into verse, making the abstract concrete, and making poetry more sensuous.
3. Figures of speech are a way of adding emotional intensity to otherwise merely informative statements and conveying attitudes and information.
4. Figures of speech are a means of concentration, a way of saying much in a brief compass.
KINDS OF FIGURES OF SPEECH
Allusion. A figure of speech that makes a brief reference to or a representation of person, place, event, literary work, myth, or a work of art, either directly or by implication.
"After Palanan"
by Angel Rene A. Iturralde
The pendulum
Is a thing of dread
To nervous persons like me.
It reminds one of swaying Iscariot
Suspended from a tree.
Antithesis. A figure of speech in which two contradictory or conflicting words, phrases, clauses, and ideas are juxtaposed, typically within parallel grammatical structures.
Green Lantern’s Oath
In brightest day, in blackest night,
No evil shall escape my sight.
Let those who worship evil's might
Beware my power—Green lantern's light!
Apostrophe. A figure of speech in which some absent or non-existent person or thing is addressed as if present and capable of understanding or replying.
From Jane Taylor's poem " Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
Asyndeton. A stylistic scheme in which conjunctions are deliberately omitted from a series of related clauses. The principal effect of asyndeton is to produce a hurried rhythm in the sentence.
She was young,
she was pure,
she was new,
she was nice,
she was fair,
she was sweet sixteen.
Chiasmus. A figure of speech in which two or more clauses are related to each other through a reversal of structures in order to make a larger point; that is, the clauses display inverted parallelism.
“Nice to see you, to see you nice.” (Sir Bruce Forsyth, The Generation Game)
The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. (Mark 2:27)
Hyperbole. An extravagant statement or the use of exaggerated terms for the purpose of emphasis or heightened effect.
From W.H Auden's poem "As I Walked One Evening",
I'll love you, dear, I'll love you
Till China and Africa meet,
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street,
I'll love you till the ocean
Is folded and hung up to dry
Irony. A statement or situation where the meaning is contradicted by the appearance or presentation of the idea.
From Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner",
Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.
Litotes. A figure of speech consisting of an ironical understatement in which the affirmative is expressed by the negation of the opposite.
Examples:
He’s no Prince Charming. (Disney’s Beauty and the Beast)
He's no spring chicken.
She isn't exactly a world class chef.
Metaphor. An implied comparison between two unlike things that actually have something important in common
“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.
Metonymy. A figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated
"The pen is mightier than the sword." - Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Oxymoron. A figure of speech in which two opposite words or ideas are joined to create an effect.
From William Shakespeare ‘s Romeo and Juliet
Good night, good night! parting is such sweet sorrow,
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.
From Alexander Pope's poem, "Essays of Criticism",
The bookful blockhead ignorantly read,
With loads of learned lumber in his head,
With his own tongue still edifies his ears,
And always list'ning to himself appears.
Paradox. A self-contradictory statement because it often contains two statements that are both true, but in general, cannot both be true at the same time.
"My Heart Leaps Up"
By William Wordsworth
My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.
Personification. A figure of speech in which an inanimate object, an animal or an idea is endowed with human qualities or abilities
“The Eagle”
By Alfred, Lord Tennyson
He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.
Pun. A play on words, sometimes on different senses of the same word and sometimes on the similar sense or sound of different words.
“Pragmatist”
by Edmund Conti
Apocalypse now.
Coming our way.
Ground zero at noon.
Halve a nice day
Simile. A stated comparison (usually formed with "like," "than," or "as") between two fundamentally dissimilar or unlike things that have certain qualities in common.
From Walt Disney’s “Bambi”
Love is a song that never ends
One simple theme repeating
Like the voice of a heavenly choir
Love’s sweet music flows on
Symbol. Using an object or action that means something more than its literal meaning
“Ah! Sunflower”
By William Blake
Ah! sunflower, weary of time,
Who countest the steps of the sun,
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
Where the traveller’s journey is done;
Where the youth pined away with desire,
And the pale virgin shrouded in snow,
Arise from their graves and aspire;
Where my sunflower wishes to go.
Synecdoche. A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole, the whole for a part, the specific for the general, the general for the specific, or the material for the thing made from it.
From T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”
There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
Understatement. A figure of speech in which a writer or a speaker deliberately makes a situation seem less important or serious than it is.
"It's just a flesh wound." (The Black Knight, after having both arms cut off, in Monty Python and the Holy Grail)