Figures of Speech

Types and Significance

 Questions
• What figure of speech does the writer use in P ()?
Explain it and justify its significance.

• Identify one figure of speech employed in P (),

explain it and justify its significance.

• Explain the personification / simile/ metaphor in

P (). What role does it have in the text/
Paragraph?
 Some of the most used figures of
speech are
• Simile: it’s a comparison of two unlike things in which a
word of comparison (as or like) is used. (ex: Sweet as tropic
winds at night)
• Metaphor: it’s a comparison of two unlike tings in which no
word of comparison (as or like) is used. (ex: love is a rose)
• Personification: it’s to describe an animal, object, or idea as
if it were a human. (ex: Even his words now danced in glee)
• Antithesis: it’s a figure of speech used in literature to depict
an opposition or contrast, of ideas. (ex: It was the best of
times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom,
it was the age of foolishness)
•
 Simile
• The writer COMPARES two things using
articles of likeness:
• As
• Like
• As……as
• Such as
• 6. “The very mystery of him excited her curiosity like a door
that had neither lock nor key.” — Gone with the Wind, by
Margaret Mitchell
• 7. “Elderly American ladies leaning on their canes listed
toward me like towers of Pisa.” — Lolita, by Vladimir
Nabokov
• 8. “Camperdown, Copenhagen, Trafalgar — these names
thunder in memory like the booming of great guns.” —
Mutiny on the Bounty, by Charles Nordhoff and James
Norman Hall
• 9. “The water made a sound like kittens lapping.” — The
Yearling, by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
• 10. “. . . impressions poured in upon her of those two men,
and to follow her thought was like following a voice which
speaks too quickly to be taken down by one’s pencil . . .” —
To the Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf
 Examples
• 1. “Time has not stood still. It has washed over me, washed me
away, as if I’m nothing more than a woman of sand, left by a
careless child too near the water.” — The Handmaid’s Tale, by
Margaret Atwood
• 2. “Her romantic mind was like the tiny boxes, one within the other,
that come from the puzzling East . . .” — Peter Pan, by J. M. Barrie.
• 3. “. . . and snow lay here and there in patches in the hollow of the
banks, like a lady’s gloves forgotten.” — Lorna Doone: A Romance of
Exmoor, by R. D. Blackmore
• 4. “In the eastern sky there was a yellow patch like a rug laid for the
feet of the coming sun . . .” — The Red Badge of Courage, by
Stephen Crane
• 5. “. . . utterly absorbed by the curious experience that still clung to
him like a garment.” — Magnificent Obsession, by Lloyd C. Douglas
 Metaphor
• The writer compares two things without using articles
of likeness.
• Using verb to Be: one thing(s) IS/ are another thing:

• Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday

life.” – Pablo Picasso.

• “Conscience is a man's compass.” – Vincent Van Gogh.

• “Chaos is a friend of mine.” – Bob Dylan.

• “All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the

same tree.” – Albert Einstein.
 Weather Metaphors
• Shower: He showered her with gifts.
• Cloud: The event was clouded over by protests.
• Fog: My memory is a little foggy.
• Rain: Into each life some rain must fall.
• Hail: A hail of bullets.
• Wind: The winds of change.
• Sunshine: You are the sunshine of my life.
• Sunset: He'd entered his sunset years.
• Clear skies: It's gonna' be clear skies from now on.
• Lightening rod: He became a lightening rod for party criticism.
• Blow: You'll be blown away!
• Gust: Criticism began to gust in from all sides.
• Thaw: Relations between the two countries began to thaw.
• Thunder: The boss thundered into the room.
• Breeze: This homework is a breeze.
• Dawn: The dawn of civilization.
 Weather Metaphors
• Grey skies: Grey skies are gonna' clear up!
• Cold: A cold reception.
• Dry spell: Business suffered a long dry spell.
• Chilly: It's been a little chilly around the office since Mr. Ironbritches
became boss!
• Blizzard: There was a blizzard of activity at the emergency room.
• Whirlwind: It was a whirlwind romance that spun out of control.
• Misty: Misty, water-coloured memories...
• Season: It is the season of change.
• Winter: She entered a spiritual winter.
• Autumn: They had entered their autumn years.
• Twilight: He entered his twilight years a broken man. (see "sunset")
• Darken: The skies of his future began to darken.
• Weather: His face was weathered by a long, troubled life.
• Storm: She was unsure if her proposal could weather the storm of scrutiny.
 Personification
• The writer Compares one thing to giving it
human qualities.
• The writer Personifies one thing by giving it
human quality.
 Two Sunflowers Move in the Yellow Room (by William Blake)
“Ah, William, we’re weary of weather,”
said the sunflowers, shining with dew.
“Our traveling habits have tired us.
Can you give us a room with a view?”

The Mirror (by Sylvia Plath)

• I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.
Whatever I see I swallow immediately
Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.
I am not cruel, only truthful ‚
The eye of a little god, four-cornered.
1--Once
again, the heart of America is heavy. The spirit
of America weeps for a tragedy that denies the very
meaning of our land."
-- Lyndon Baines Johnson

2--. Stop to look fear in the face. You are able

to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this
horror. I can take the next thing that comes
along.' You must do the thing you think you
cannot do.
• -- Eleanor Roosevelt, You Learn by Living:
Eleven Keys for a More Successful Life
 Antithesis : Using contrasts

• "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for
mankind." - Neil Armstrong
• "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish
together as fools." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
• "Speech is silver, but silence is gold." - Source unknown
• "I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my
spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be
stifled by dry rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every
atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and
permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live,
not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong
them. I shall use my time." - Jack London
• "Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing." - Goethe
 More Antithesis

• "Money is the root of all evil: poverty is the fruit of all

goodness." - Source unknown
• "Patience is bitter, but it has a sweet fruit." - Aristotle
• "Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and
knowledge without integrity is dangerous and
dreadful." - Samuel Johnson
• "Folks who have no vices have very few virtues." -
Abraham Lincoln
• "All the joy the world contains / Has come through
wishing happiness for others. / All the misery the world
contains / Has come through wanting pleasure for
oneself." - Shantideva
 Sound figures
• Alliteration

• Onomatopoeia

• Repetition

• Parallel Structure
 Significance
• To break Monotony
• To attract reader’s Attention
• To add beauty to the text
• To add more clarity
• To add a pleasing musical quality
• To enhance the style of writing.