Figurative languages

Figurative languages
• Words and expressions used in poems and
songs to convey various meanings and
interpretations from the literal meaning.
• One of the main reasons for using these
devices is to make a connection with the
listeners so that they can sink deep into the
sea of the writer’s thoughts and stimulate
emotion, help listeners to form mental images.
 My heart will go on – Celine Dion
Every night in my dreams
I see you, I feel you…
Love can touch us one time
And last for a lifetime…
Near, far, wherever you are
I believe that the heart does go on

• The above lines use hyperbole in the line ‘near far, wherever you are…’.
The songwriter exaggerates the way to illustrate the main character’s
presence to the listeners.
• At the beginning of the song ‘Every night in my dream I see you I feel
you’, the writer uses imagery to create a visual impact of the singer’s
dream and her beloved. ‘Love’ is personified in the lines ‘love can touch
us one time’.
 Move Like Jagger – Ben Minadeo

Just shoot for the stars if it feels right

And aim for my heart if you feel like it…
Kiss me ’til you’re drunk and I’ll show you all the moves like Jagger
I’ve got the moves like Jagger

• In the above lines, the singer uses the simile in ‘I’ve got the
moves like Jagger’. Here the singer is comparing his dancing
skills with Mick Jagger’s because Mick Jagger is known for a
unique dancing style. There is
• The hyperbole is used in the line, ‘Kiss me till your drunk’,
which is an exaggeration. People get drunk from drinking too
much alcohol.
 Let It Go – Idina Menzel
The snow glows white on the mountain tonight
Not a footprint to be seen…
The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside
Couldn’t keep it in, heaven knows I’ve tried…
Let it go, let it go
Can’t hold it back anymore.

• At the beginning of the song, the singer has used hyperbole. For
example, ‘The snow glows white on the mountain tonight’. In reality,
snow doesn’t glow. We can see the personification and simile in the
following lines ‘The wind is howling like the swirling storm inside’.
Here the wind is personified and it is compared by a wolf’s howl.
 Skyscraper – Demi Lovato
Skies are crying, I am watching
Catching teardrops in my hands…
You can break everything I am
Like I’m made of glass
Like I’m made of paper

• The entire song is an extended metaphor of struggle and

overcoming. The writer has used two opposites ‘up and down’
in the same verse. In the lines, ‘Skies are crying’, skies are
personified. In the verse ‘you can break everything I am, like
I’m made of glass’, has a simile. Here the singer is comparing
herself to glass and a piece of paper to show her vulnerability.
 Fire Work  – Katy Perry
Do you ever feel like a plastic bag…
Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin
Like a house of cards..
Come on let your colors burst…
You’re original, cannot be replaced
If you only knew what the future holds

• In the first line, ‘Do you ever feel like a plastic bag’, there is a simile.
Here the singer compares a person to a plastic bag which used to
store things or perhaps a garbage cover. Later in line, there is a
metaphor, ‘Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin’. Here the singer is
trying to compare the weak-minded persons to a thin paper or a
tissue paper. There’s another simile, in line ‘just own the night, like
the fourth of July’.
 Chandelier –  Sia Furler
Phone’s blowin’ up, they’re ringin’ my doorbell…
And I’m holding on for dear life,
won’t look down won’t open my eyes
Keep my glass full until morning light,
’cause I’m just holding on for tonight
Help…

• ‘Phone is blowing up’ is hyperbole, as the doorbell sounds

do not affect the phone. ‘But I’m holding on for dear life’,
is also another hyperbole because she is not actually
going to die from the doorbell sound.
 Fly Me To The Moon – Frank Sinatra
Fly me to the moon
Let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like on
A-Jupiter and Mars…
You are all I long for, all I worship and adore

• In the first three lines, the singer uses hyperbole. He

exaggerates the facts and wishes to fly to the moon
and play in the stars. He also believes there are
seasons like spring on the planets Jupiter and Mars.
 Grenade – Bruno Mars
Easy come, easy go, that’s just how you live, oh
Take, take, take it all, but you never give
Shoulda known you was trouble from the first kiss
Had your eyes wide open; why were they open? (Ooh)
Gave you all I had and you tossed it in the trash
You tossed it in the trash, you did
To give me all your love is all I ever ask
‘Cause what you don’t understand is

• In the 5th line, ‘Gave you all I had’ is hyperbole as no person can
give ‘all’ their possessions to someone even if they are close.
 I am a rock- Simon & Garfunkel
A winter’s day
In a deep and dark
December…
It’s sleeping in my memory
I won’t disturb the slumber of feelings that have died…
I am a rock
I am an island…
And a rock feels no pain
And an island never cries.

• The phrases ‘ I am a rock’, I am an island’ are metaphors and it used as

a comparison for personalities. In the lines ‘ love is sleeping’,  feelings ‘ die’
and ‘ a rock feels no pain and the island never cries’ are used as
personification. The imagery used in the following phrases, ‘freshly fallen
silent shroud of snow’, ‘a fortress steep and mighty’ and ‘ past experiences
spurred this commitment’.