MY

FIGURATIVE
LANGUAGE
GUIDEBOOK
WRITTEN BY: MADDIE BELL
 HYPERBOLE
DEFINITION:
A point stated in a way that is greatly
EXTRA INFORMATION:
A hyperbole has the ability to express larger than life
exaggerate, often to imply the emotions (ex. “I love you to the moon and back” - It isn’t
intensity of the speaker’s feelings or possible to actually love someone to the moon and back,
convictions. however this hyperbole is used to express a large amount
of love)
Hyperboles don’t rely on sentence structure, instead their

EXAMPLES: effectiveness comes from the amount of purposeful

exaggeration created (if strong feels are created, then the
My backpack weighs a ton
hyperbole is effective)
I’m so hungry, I could eat a horse
My feet are killing me

USES GREAT GATSBY:

Cry me a river

HOW TO USE:
After Daisy see’s Nick, she exclaims “I’m paralyzed with
happiness” (Fitzgerald 9).
WITHOUT hyperbole: I waited for Analysis: In order to convey the amount of happiness
very long Daisy feels when seeing Nick, Fitzgerald uses the
WITH hyperbole: I waited for an word “paralyzed” to express Daisy’s feelings.
Although, being paralyzed with happiness isn’t
eternity
physically capable, the inclusion of the word hopes
Waiting for an eternity isn’t
to emphasize to the reader Daisy’s true feelings of
possible
happiness.
Conveys the aspect of “waiting”
in a more creative way
DRAMATIC IRONY:

IRONY
The purpose of using dramatic irony is to engage the
reader by giving them a piece of information the
character’s don’t know
Dramatic irony creates tension by drawing in the
reader’s attention (it can also create a sense of humor)

CREATING IT:
DEFINITION: The three steps to creating Dramatic Irony:
Preparation: Giving the audience a piece of
A figure of thought that depends on
information the character’s don’t know
the deliberate contrast of two levels of
Suspense: The way the story plays out based on the
meaning (five types of irony: verbal,
information the audience knows (ex. in a horror
structual, dramatic and tragic
movie, if the audience knows where the killer is, the

GREAT GATSBY:
character will purposefully go towards the killer to
create suspense)
When the audience knew about the Resolution: The character figures out the
relationship between Gatsby and Daisy, information the audience knows (can be shocking,
while Tom (Daisy’s husband) was tragical or comical)
completely clueless of their connection -
because the audience knew before the
actual characters, this is considered
dramatic irony.
 METAPHOR
DEFINITION:
A word or phrase that compares one
kind of thing to another
conspicuously different object,
concept or experience
EXAMPLES:
Work today was a nightmare
You are my shining star
My bedroom is a pigsty
That athlete is a machine
SPECIFICS:
A metaphor can be broken down
into two categories: Tenor and
Vehicle
Tenor: The thing that is being
described
Vehicle: The thing the Tenor is
being compared too
PERSONIFICATION
DEFINITION:
An abstract concept, animal or
inanimate object is treated as though
it were alive or has human attributes
EXAMPLES:
Lightening danced across the sky
The wind howled in the night
My alarm clock yells at me
The ivy wove it’s fingers around
the fence
TYPES OF METAPHORS:
Conventional: Metaphors that are used everyday in speech,
and no longer call attention because of how normalized they
are
Creative: Novel metaphors that help by drawing attention to
their status
Mixed: A combination of two or more incongruous
comparisons
Extended: Metaphors that continue out across a line or a
paragraph
Absolute: Tenor cannot be distinguished from vehicle
USES GREAT GATSBY:
Describing the buildings in New York - “At 158th street the
cab stopped at one slice in a long white cake of apartment-
houses” (Fitzgerald 30).
Analysis: Realistically, a slice of cake is very different
from apartmeant buildings. However, in order to
symbolize to the reader how similar the buildings are to
each other; Fitzgerald uses a metaphor. In this
metaphor, the tenor would be the apartment houses
and the vehicle would be the slices of cake.
USES GREAT GATSBY:
The description of the Buchanan’s house: “Their house
was even more elaborate than I expected, a cheerful
red-and-white Georgian Colonial mansion, overlooking
the bay” (Fitzgerald 6).
Analysis: Typically “cheerful” is used as a describing
word for humans, someone who is excited or in a
good mood can be called “cheerful.” Therefore,
when it is used to describe an inanimate object, like
a house, it becomes personification. There is no
actual way a house can be physically “cheerful” as
said above, it is an inanimate object and isn’t
actually alive. So, using human descriptions help
personify the object, giving it traits as if it were alive.
WORKS CITED:
“Hyperbole.” LitCharts, www.litcharts.com/literary-devices-and-
terms/hyperbole.
“Metaphor.” LitCharts, www.litcharts.com/literary-devices-and-
terms/metaphor.
“Personification.” LitCharts, www.litcharts.com/literary-devices-
and-terms/personification.
“What Is a Metaphor? Definition and Examples.” Grammarly, 21
June 2023, www.grammarly.com/blog/metaphor/.
Yamasaki, Parker. “What Is Dramatic Irony in Writing?
Definition and Examples.” Dramatic Irony: Definition and
Examples | Grammarly Blog, Grammarly Blog, 27 Dec. 2022,
www.grammarly.com/blog/dramatic-irony/.