Figurative Language: Imagery

Figurative Language

Any language that goes beyond the literal meaning of words in order to furnish new effects or fresh insights into an idea or a subject.

Imagery

Language that appeals to the senses.

Visual

This form helps in evoking the sight of a particular image explained.

flashbrightsharpclearlightdarklargeblue

Auditory

This form is used to represent sound.

scream, shout, whisper, ring, utter, nasal, squeal, quiet

GustatoryThis form helps evoke the sense of taste in one's mind.

sweetsoursaltybitterfreshjuicyblandburntzestytangy

Olfactory

This form relates to the reader’s sense of smell

pungentfragrantsweetdankrichstinkymustyrottensour

KinestheticIt is a broad term that is used to describe various feeling and/or emotions. It includes sense of touch, movement, temperature, and physical feelings.

warm, sharp, peaceful, cold, rugged, joyful, soft, fuzzy, hard

Why do writers use it?What is Author’s Purpose?

Authors use imagery to help them express, more vividly, a message they have for their reader. Their purpose is to make an impact. The impact can vary, and it is often the job of the reader to discover what message or purpose the author was hoping for.

How do writers make imagery happen?

They use “tools”, known as figurative language, to help create this sensory imagery.

Figurative Language =

Simile

"A Greek Philosopher said that two people who are true friends are like two bodies with one soul."The Chosen by Chaim Potok, 74

“I was having trouble breathing, as though the oxygen were leaving the room.”A Separate Peace by John Knowles, 45

A form of comparison in which one thing is compared to another unlike thing by using specific words of comparison like like, as, and resembles.

http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0210124/figlandef.html

Metaphor

"There is a beast in my gut, I can hear it scraping away at the insides of my ribs."Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, 51

"And the uncertainty of our futures is nothing more than the fog of breath on a windowpane." A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray, 401

http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0210124/figlandef.html

A form of comparison that directly compares two unlike things. A metaphor wastes no time in getting to the point.

Hyperbole

"I started throwing up a ton of water and food. If there was a forest fire somewhere all they would have to do is hold me over it and I would have put it out! I threw up and coughed and choked and vomited about a million times, and all this just because I'd breathed in some air!" The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis 178

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A great exaggeration used to emphasize a point, and is used for expressive or comic effect. A hyperbole is not to be taken literally.

Onomatopoeia

"Chug, chug, chug. Puff, puff, puff. Ding-dong, ding-dong. The little train rumbled over the tracks."The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper

http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0210124/figlandef.html

A single word that sounds like the thing it refers to.

Personification

"And so we came to those days when summer was dead but autumn had not yet been born. "The Scarlet Ibis“ by James Hurst

"So I lay back in the sand, looking up at the stars, and that was a little better. The stars seemed pretty lonesome too." Hard Love by Ellen Wittlinger 212

http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0210124/figlandef.html

Speaking of something that is not human as if it had human abilities and human reactions.

Oxymoron

It was an open secret that the company had used a paid volunteer to test the plastic glasses. Although they were made using liquid gas technology and were an original copy that looked almost exactly like a more expensive brand, the volunteer thought that they were pretty ugly and that it would be simply impossible for the general public to accept them. On hearing this feedback, the company board was clearly confused and there was a deafening silence. This was a minor crisis and the only choice was to drop the product line.Todd, Richard Watson. Much Ado About English, 2006

http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0210124/figlandef.html

Two words put together to form a phrase which contradicts itself.

Oxymoron

It was an open secret that the company had used a paid volunteer to test the plastic glasses. Although they were made using liquid gas technology and were an original copy that looked almost exactly like a more expensive brand, the volunteer thought that they were pretty ugly and that it would be simply impossible for the general public to accept them. On hearing this feedback, the company board was clearly confused and there was a deafening silence. This was a minor crisis and the only choice was to drop the product line.Todd, Richard Watson. Much Ado About English, 2006

http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0210124/figlandef.html

Two words put together to form a phrase which contradicts itself.