F I GU R E O F S P E E C H

A figure of speech is another literary device used by
creative writers (poets, fictionists, playwrights) to
evoke meaningful responses from their readers. It is
a word or phrase that uses a figurative language. A
figurative language has other meaning other than its
literal meaning; it has a figurative meaning.
Figurative means deviating from the literal
use of words. Literal means taking the words in their
usual or most basic sense or their dictionary
meaning. Figurative language has a connotative
meaning while literal language has a denotative
meaning.
Figures of speech depend on implied or
suggested meaning. They are not meant to be
taken literally. There is a meaning other than its
literal meaning and this other meaning is its real
meaning.
The use of the figures of speech makes
creative writing more artistic, more animated, and
more attractive. It adds quality and shade to your
writing. According to Aguila, et al. (2017), figures of
speech do the following:
1. Clarify a vague idea or thought;
2. Furnish or provide striking examples;
3. Highlight an important point;
4. Stimulate unlikely associations;
5. Evoke or suggest powerful feelings and
emotions;
6. Breathe some life into inanimate objects;
7. Personify and give voice to non-sentient beings;
8. Delight the reader with linguistic inventiveness;
and
9. Embellish dull paragraphs or stanzas.

TYPES OF FIGURES OF SPEECH

The figures of speech can be classified into two main categories: tropes and rhetorical figures.
Tropes Rhetorical figures
 figures of speech that involve a total change or  figures of speech whose unusual effects are
essential transformation in the meaning of attained through the uncommon or unfamiliar
words that make them (Aguila, et al, 2017). arrangement of words or sentence structure
 Tropes include simile, metaphor, image, (ibid.).
symbol, allusion, hyperbole, metonymy,  Rhetorical figures include alliteration, anaphora,
oxymoron, paradox, personification, pun, and anastrophe, apostrophe, assonance, chiasmus,
synecdoche, among others. irony, litotes, and onomatopoeia, among others.
1. Simile directly compares two things that belong to 1. Alliteration is the repetition of the initial consonant
different classes. The comparison uses the words sounds of words that are near each other in a line or
“like” or “as.” Example: within stanzas. Example:

rains hit hard You have grown, dear Minak,

like bullets you have grown:
through the tin roof Serpents and swans now skim
to the funkiest rhythm
In this excerpt from [ ] by Sacha Garah Weygan- where once eels and leeches snaked
Jasmin, the two objects being compared, rains and while hoofs thundered over
bullets, are not similar. toward a mound of salt.
2. Metaphor indirectly compares two things that In this poem, Minak, by Scott M. Saboy, the [s] sound
belong to different classes. The comparison in a is prominent in the third line – serpents, swans, skim.
metaphor is simply implied or indirect. Example:

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and

women merely players. They have their exits and 2. Apostrophe is directly addressing someone usually
their entrances, and one man in his time plays many absent, a personified thing, an abstract idea, or
parts.” something nonexistent. The poem above is an
example. The persona of the poem addresses Minak,
In this play, As You Like It, by William Shakespeare, a place in Kafagway, which is now Burnham Park,
the stage is directly compared to real life, men and Baguio City.
women are compared to actors.

3. Hyperbole is otherwise known as exaggeration or

overstatement. It is an effective way of expressing
powerful thoughts and emotions. Example:
 When it rains and rains 3. Assonance is the repetition of stressed vowel
For days and nights without end sounds of words that are near each other in a line or
The city a sea! in stanzas. Example:

In this poem, [ ], by Sacha Garah Weygan-Jasmin, the Hickory dickory dock

flooding being experienced in the city is compared to mouse ran up the clock
a sea. The clock struck one
The mouse ran down
4. Allusion is the association or reference to a Hickory dickory dock.
mythical, biblical, historical, cultural, or literary
character, event, place, or object. It works best when In this English nursery rhyme the [ä] sound is repeated
both the writer and the reader share the same in dock (/däk/) and clock (/kläk/).
knowledge of the association or reference being
made. Example: 4. Irony is saying the exact opposite of its meaning. It
can be verbal, situational, or dramatic. Verbal irony is
used when a one says what he or she does not
Fas-ang walked far actually mean. Situational irony is used when one
And found Tanabata. reacts or comments on someone’s condition when the
same condition befalls him or her. Dramatic irony is
used to show that the audience is aware of the
I waited many years situation of the characters but the characters do not.
and found you.
5. Onomatopoeia is the careful positioning of a word
Like Fas-ang, I didn’t know whose sound is similar to or suggests its meaning.
That the time I got married Example:
Would also be the time I would feel
Loneliness. See the furry little creature romping around
Squeak!
The reader of this poem entitled Like Tanabata’s Wife Watch your feet
by Janice Bagawi-Cabahit needs to have knowledge Squeak!
of Sinai Hamada’s short story entitled Tanabata’s Wife Please don’t shriek
for him or her to understand the association or
reference being made. This is an example of a literary In this excerpt from Clifford Chan’s poem “Cute,” the
allusion. onomatopoeic words are romping, squeak, and shriek.

5. Personification is giving human traits to fantastic

creatures, animals, abstract concepts, and inanimate
objects. Example:

Once in the land of Bakun

where the birds croon
the night yells and sings
and where the sunlight hugs
all things,
there walked a man
along the terrains
named Dolegen among the staring mountains.

In this excerpt from Rochelle Jadormio’s poem

“Dolegen,” the night yells and sings, the sunlight hugs,
and the mountains stares. Yelling, singing, hugging,
and staring are human traits given to nonhuman
things.

What to Avoid
1. Avoid clichéd, worn out, or overused figures of speech. They make your writing dull. As a beginning writer, it
is prerogative of you to create or invent new expressions.
2. Avoid mixing metaphors. If you do, you invoke a confusing image in the reader’s mind. Be consistent of the
metaphors you use in a work so that you will create a unified image and eventually communicate clearly the
insight you want to convey.
3. Avoid using figures of speech in formal, academic writing like formal essays. Use figures of speech only if
they enhance the piece that you are writing.