Figure of Speech can be defined as word, phrase or sentence that:
1. presents a “figure” to the mind of the reader,
2. presents an imaginative or unusual use of words that the reader is not to take literally, or
3. presents a special arrangement or use of words or word sounds that create an unusual effect.
Ordinary language that does not contain a figure of speech is called literal language. Language that contains a figure of speech is called figurative language. Figurative language is also sometimes called imagery because it presents an image to the mind. Consider the following sentences:
The leaves blew across the lawn. (Literal language)
The leaves danced across the lawn. (Figurative language)
Notice that the second sentence presents a figure to the mind of the reader: The leaves are dancing as if they were people. Obviously, the writer does not mean that the leaves literally danced. However, they “figuratively” danced. Now consider the following additional examples:
Mr. Piper harvested a bushel of green vegetables. (Literal language)
Peter Piper picked four pecks of peppers. (Figurative language)
The repetition of the "p" in the second sentence is considered a figure of speech because it presents a sound to the mind. This glossary contains definitions of various figures of speech. The most common figures of speech are Alliteration, Metaphor, Onomatopoeia, Personification, and Simile.
Alliteration - Repetition of consonant sounds. Examples: (1) But now I am cabined, cribbed, confined, bound into saucy doubts and fears.–Shakespeare. (2) Duncan is in his grave; after life's fitful fever he sleeps well–Shakespeare. (3) When I was one-and- twenty–A.E. Housman. (Note that "one" has a "w" sound. (4) I sent thee late a rosy wreath–Ben Jonson. (Note that "wr" has an "r" sound.)
Metaphor - Comparing one thing to an unlike thing without using like, as or than. Examples: (1) The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve.–Shakespeare. (The striker or clapper of the bell is being compared to the tongue of a speaking human being.) (2) The sea being smooth, how many shallow bauble boats dare sail upon her patient breast .–Shakespeare. (The sea is being compared to a woman with a "patient breast.") (3) I am a man whom Fortune hath cruelly scratched.–Shakespeare. (Fortune is being compared to an entity that can be cruel.) (4) In battle, the soldier is a tiger. (5) Michael Casey's face is a map of Ireland.
Onomatopoeia Figure of speech in which (1) a word mimics a sound or (2) an arrangement of words in a rhythmic pattern suggests a sound or an image. Examples of No. 1: burp, varoom, oink, crackle, moo, hiss, gong, thud, splash, zip, creak, boom, slurp, crunch, quack, twitter, honk, hoot, squeak, buzz, and zoom. Example of No. 2, from Sylvia Plath's poem "Daddy," in which the the rhythm of the words in one stanza imitates the chug of a locomotive:
An engine, an engine
Chuffing me off like a Jew.
A Jew to Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen
I began to talk like a Jew.
I think I may well be a Jew.
Notice that the words mimic the rhythm of a chugging locomotive–an engine, an engine; like a Jew, a Jew.
Personification - Giving human-like qualities or human form to objects and abstractions. Personification is a form of metaphor. Examples: (1) Thou has done a deed whereat valor will weep.–Shakespeare. (Notice that valor, an abstraction, weeps.) (2) Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered–Shakespeare. (3) Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me. –Emily Dickinson. (4) The house pleaded for a new coat of paint.
Simile - Comparing one thing to an unlike thing by using like, as, or than. Examples: (1) The barge she sat in, like a burnished throne, burned on the water.–Shakespeare. (2) And the muscles of his brawny arms are strong as iron bands–Longfellow. (3) His hand was small and cold; it felt like wax.–Margaret Truman. (4) In the morning the dust hung like fog, and the sun was as red as ripe new blood–John Steinbeck.
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