Figurative Language Figurative language is not intended to be

interpreted in a literal sense. Appealing to the imagination, figurative language provides new ways of looking at the world. It always makes use of a comparison between different things. Figurative language compares two things that are different in enough ways so that their similarities, when pointed out, are interesting, unique and/or surprising.

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

Simile, Metaphor, Alliteration, Personification, Hyperbole, Idioms,

Onomatopoeia, Imagery, Irony, Rhyme

Figurative Languagealters or exaggerates the literal definitions of its

component words.

EAMPLE WHAT IS BEING COMPARED

The girl ran as fast as lighting.

The tropical sun was hot like an oven.

The girl and lighting Lighting is very fast. You can make a picture

in your mind of how fast she is running.

The tropical sun to an oven. An oven is really hot.  You can see in your mind how hot the sun really is! 

When you write, try using a simile to compare two unlike things using like or as.

The girl slept on the soft blanket.  It was red.  Her room was very hot.  She rolled onto something sharp.

Look for words that you can compare things to.

The girl slept on the soft blanket.  It was red.  Her room was very hot.  She rolled onto something sharp.

Now that you've selected words, think about things that remind you of those words.  Make a

list.

Soft Red Hot Sharp

CottonFeatherCloud

RoseFire Engine

Apple

FireOven Sun

PencilNeedleKnife

The blanket was as soft as cotton.

The blanket was red like an apple.

The room was as hot as an oven.

The object was sharp like a needle.

When figurative language is added to your writing, your readers can make

pictures in their minds.

The girl slept on a blanket that was as soft as cotton.  It was red like an apple.  Her room was as hot as an oven.  She rolled onto something sharp like a needle.

A simile is a comparison between two different things.  It uses the word like or as.

1. The bed was as hard as a _________. 2. Papa ran like___________. 3. The puppy was as soft as____________. 4. An alligator swam toward us like

a_______. 5. The table was as sharp as___________.

Write down the meaning of each simile and turn in. 

The bed was as hard as nails. Answer: Very Hard        Jessica swam like a fish.   Answer:  ___________                   The mud was like glue.    Answer:  ____________                   The house was as black as the night.    Answer: ___________

Metaphor

Makes a comparison between two unlike things By

Suggesting that one thing is something else.

“My love is a rose.”

What two things are being compared?

AND

It could mean that the feeling of love is beautiful like a rose, or that the person is like a rose in some way. What do you think?

It could mean that the feeling of love is beautiful like a

rose, or that the person is like a rose in some way. What

do you think?

AND

Alleration Repetition of the first

consonant sound at the beginning of words

Example

Peter Piper picked a pickled pepper.

We lurk late. We shoot straight.

Stan the strong surfer saved several swimmers on Saturday.

Tiny Tommy Thomson takes toy trucks to Timmy’s on Tuesday.

Assonance: The repetition of internal vowel sounds. Doesn't have to rhyme!!

Princess Kitty will kiss Timmy T. Tippers’s lips.

Personification

Gives human characteristics to something that is not human

The flowers danced in the wind. The friendly gates welcomed us.

The hurricane’s winds are yelling while blowing outside my window.

Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia: When a word’s pronunciation imitates its sound.

ExamplesBuzz Fizz

WoofHiss Clink

BoomBeep Vroom

Zip

The firecracker made a loud ka-boom!

The ball went swish as it hit the net.

I knew the car was going to break down because it went chug chug chug…

What is hyperbole?

Hyperbole is an extreme exaggeration used to produce an effect.

Hyperbole is an exaggeration that is so dramatic that no one would believe the statement is true. Tall tales are hyperboles.

Examples of Hyperbole

I am so hungry I could eat a horse.

I could sleep for a thousand years.

That box weighs a ton.

Imagery Language that appeals to the senses. Descriptions of people or objects stated in terms of our senses.

Sight Hearing

Touch Taste Smell

IdiomsA set expression of two or more words that means something other than the literal meaning of the words. In other words

An idiom is an expression that means something different from what the words actually mean.

Idoms

•Bundle of Nerves Helping Hands•Horse of a Different Color Barking Up the Wrong Tree

More Examples

It’s raining cat’s and dog’s.

Tickled Pink Red Handed In the Red Heart of Gold Golden Rule Pot of Gold Butterflies in My Stomach The Grass is Greener on the Other Side of the FenceWhere Your Heart on Your Sleeve The Cats Out of the Bag Blood is Thicker Than Water

Irony

When a speaker intends something entirely different than what is said

Say it one way, but “secretly” mean it the opposite way

ExampleSomeone accomplishes something hard or

is very successful and you say, “You’ve certainly made a mess of things.”

“It smells really good in here!” when referring to something that smells terrible.

Rhyme

When words are arranged in such a way that they make a pattern or beat.

Example:There once was a man from Peru,Who dreamed of eating his shoe,He awoke with a fright,In the middle of the night,And found that his dream had come true!

Hint: hum the words instead of saying them.

Practice Quiz

I’ll put some lines of poetry on the board.

Write down which techniques are used:

Alliteration, consonance, rhythm, rhyme, and onomatopoeia.

1

The cuckoo in our cuckoo clock was wedded to an octopus.

She laid a single wooden eggand hatched a cuckoocloctopus.

2

They are building a househalf a block downand I sit up here

with the shades downlistening to the sounds,

the hammers pounding in nails,thack thack thack thack,

and then I hear birds,and thack thack thack,

3

very little love is not so bador very little life

what countsis waiting on wallsI was born for this

I was born to hustle roses down the avenues of the dead.

4

The whiskey on your breath

Could make a small boy dizzy;

But I hung on like death:Such waltzing was not

easy.

5

Homework! Oh, homework!

I hate you! You stink!I wish I could wash you

away in the sink.

Answers

1. Repetition, rhythm, rhyme, consonance

2. Onomatopoeia, assonance, repetition3. Alliteration, repetition4. Rhythm, rhyme5. Repetition, rhyme, rhythm

Remember - Good writer's use figurative language to help readers get a mental picture of what they are describing.