Types of Figurative Language

words used to tell what is happening

gives readers an idea to hear the sounds the words they reflect

"What a world of merriment their melody foretells! How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, in the icy air of night! While the stars that oversprinkle all the heavens seem to twinkle with a crystalline delight; Keeping time, time, time, in a sort of Runic rhyme." -Excerpt from "The Bells" by Edgar Allan Poe

generates a vibrant and graphic presentation of a scene

aids the reader's imagination to envision the characters and scenes in the literary piece clearly

"The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees, The moon was a ghostly galleon, tossed upon cloudy seas." -Excerpt from "The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes

provokes reader's thoughts on the meaning of combined words having 2 contradicting ideas

also used to place emphasis to an idea or characteristic and can ass to the emotion and mood of a passage

“Why then, O brawling love! O loving hate!- Excerpt from William Shakespeare

repetitive sounds produced by consonants within a sentence or phrase.

the repetition often takes place in quick succession

"Great, or good, or kind, or fair, I will ne'er the more despair; if she love me, this believe, I will die ere she shall grieve." -Excerpt from "Shall I Wasting in Despair" by George Wither

refers to a meaning or identity ascribed to one subject by way of another

"I'm a riddle in nine syllables, an elephant, a ponderous house, a melon strolling on two tendrils." -Excerpt from "Metaphors" by Sylvia Plath

develops a sense of relationship without using the word "like"

used in poetry to explain and elucidate emotions, feelings and relationships

'It was a horrible sight. Twelve feet tall, its skin was a dull, granite grey, its great lumpy body like a boulder with its small bald head perched on top like a coconut." -Excerpt from "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling

uses words "like" or "as" to compare 2 contradictory objects

brings inanimate things to life, so that their nature and actions are understood in a better way

"Hope" is the thing with feathers- that perches in the soul- and sings the tune without the words- and never stops - at all -Excerpt from Emily Dickinson

helps reader develop an emotional connection with an idea and feel empathy or sympathy for that idea or object

used when one wants to emphasize, or add humor to gain attention

"Here once the embattled farmers stood and fired the shot heard round the world."-Excerpt from "Concord Hymn" by Ralph Waldo Emerson

uses exaggeration to create flamboyant effect and stress on a specific point