figuresofspeechmetaphoricallanguage.pptx

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Figures of Speech,

or Metaphorical Language:

A Source of Depth and Range in Poetry

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Why use it?

¨ _{Figures of speech, metaphorical language,}

figurative language, figurative devices, rhetorical figures: All extend, deepen, broaden and emphasize meaning.

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Figures of Speech

Figurative language uses figures of speech to convey unique images and create some sort

of special effect or impression.

A “figure of speech” is an intentional deviation from the ordinary usage of

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Imagery

An”image” is “a word or sequence of words that refers to any sensory experience”

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Metaphor

¨ _{The term metaphor has two meanings, a}

broad, more general meaning and a concise, specific meaning.

– _{All figures of speech which use association,}

comparison, or resemblance can generally be called types of metaphor, or metaphorical.

– _{One specific figure of speech which compares}

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Metaphor

¨ _{Metaphors equate known objects or actions with}

something unknown, or that is to be explained “Your words are music to my ears.”

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Metaphor (continued)

In a metaphor, a poet writes that X is Y. Readers understand that we are not to take the comparison literally, but that the metaphor helps us to see X in a new way.

My brother is a prince.

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Implied Metaphor

Kennedy and Gioia offer a kind of metaphor (767) lacking the actual “to be” verb (is, am, are, was, were and other such forms of the verb “to be”) called

an Implied Metaphor

What is implied here about the speaker’s love?

• _{Oh, my love has petals and sharp thorns.}

• _{Oh, I placed my love into a long-stemmed vase} And I bandaged my bleeding thumb.

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Extended Metaphor

¨ This kind of metaphor may run through an entire work. In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, for example, the farm is compared to a nation, with different possible forms of

goverance. This comparison extends throughout the novel.

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Dead Metaphor

¨ A dead metaphor has been so used and overused that it has lost its power to surprise, delight, or effectively compare.

A cliché is a dead metaphor, a phrase so often repeated that it no longer has force:

– _{He hit the nail on the head.} – _{She was cool as a cucumber.}

– _{Jump out of the frying pan and into the fire.} – _{This powerpoint show is crystal clear.}

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Simile

¨ _{A simile is a type of metaphor, a figure in which}

an explicit comparison is made using the

comparative words like, as, resembles, than, as if, as though. Similes are easy to spot.

(X is like Y: X is compared to Y in order to illustrate X more fancifully, poetically, or effectively. But Y is not a

literal representation of X, not actual.)

¨ _{My love is like a red, red rose.}

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Similes

¨ _{A simile (a showing of likeness or}

resemblance) illustrates the similarity of the known to something unknown.

¨ _{Metaphors merge identities; Similes focus}

on resemblances

– _{“An aged man is like…/A tattered coat upon a}

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Personification

Another kind of comparison is called

personification. Here, animals, elements of nature, and abstract ideas are given human qualities.

Personification is the attribution of human traits to abstractions or to nonhuman objects.

John Milton calls time “the subtle thief of youth” (599). Homer refers to “the rosy fingers of dawn” (599).

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Hyperbole

¨ Hyperbole (hy per bo lee) is intentional exaggeration or overstating, often for dramatic or humorous effect:

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Understatement/Overstatement

¨ They are means of creating emphasis.

¨ Understatement:

¨ The intentional understatement is used for effect also: “Thank you for this Pulitzer Prize: I am pleased.”

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Apostrophe

¨ _{A person or thing which is absent is}

addressed.

¨ Apostrophe creates the drama of a speaker addressing an audience.

“What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whitman” (Ginsberg 599).

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Metonymy

¨ _{In this figure one thing is replaced by}

another thing associated with it:

¨ _{The Crown is amused (“The Crown” is the}

Queen).

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Synecdoche

¨ _{Here a part represents the whole:}

• _{All hands on deck!} • _{Lend me your ears.}

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Paradox

¨ _{A paradox brings out the truth in apparent}

error and contradiction

¨ Something apparently wrong or untruthful is shown to be truthful and

noncontradictory.

¨ _{“I, a child, very old” – Whitman proves that}

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Anaphora

¨ _{Anaphora is repetition of the same word or}

phrase in a work or a section of a work.

¨ It provides weight through repetition “What the hammer? what the chain? “In what furnace was thy brain?

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Synesthesia

¨ _{In synesthesia, a poet describes a feeling or}

sensation with words that usually refer to a different or even opposite feeling or

perception

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Writing About Figures of Speech

¨ _{Short writings (like paragraphs) should}

focus on one topic; consider that figure (metaphor? simile? paradox? etc.) and its relationship to the poem’s main idea.

¨ Eg.: “Through the use of overstatement in “London, 1802,” William Wordsworth

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Writing: Essays

¨ _{In a full-length essay, examine one figure of}

speech (if its pervasive enough) and its relationship to meaning.

¨ _{Second option: Consider meaning and}

effect of two or more figures,

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Sample Thesis /Topic Sentences

¨ _{“Shakespeare presents metaphors from the}

public and business world of law courts, money, and banking or money-handling.

- _{The courtroom metaphor shows the memories}

of past experience are constantly influential.

- _{The money reference shows that living is a}

lifelong investment.

- _{The metaphor of banking emphasizes that}

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Assignment

¨ _{“A Valediction Forbidding Mourning” p.}

784-785.

¨ “The Iceberg Seven-eighths Under” p. 786-787.

¨ _{“Inside Out” p. 798.}

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Option 1: Answer the questions at the end of each poem. Group work: One paper for each group.

Option 2: Consider the figures of speech in these poems, write an essay describing the use and importance of figures of speech in creating emphasis and in extending and