What is figurative language?

 Whenever you describe something

by comparing it with something else,

you are using figurative language.

Types of Figurative Language

 Imagery
 Simile
 Metaphor
 Alliteration
 Personification
 Oxymoron
 Antithesis
 Onomatopoeia
 Hyperbole
 Idioms
Imagery
 Language that appeals to the senses.
Descriptions of people or objects
stated in terms of our senses.
• Sight
• Hearing
• Touch
• Taste
• Smell
Simile
 A figure of speech which involves a
direct comparison between two unlike
things, usually with the words ‘like’ or
‘as’.
Example: The muscles on his brawny
arms are strong as iron bands.
Simile Examples Romeo & Juliet
 "My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite."
(Act 2 Scene 2)
Juliet is talking to Romeo, and she is saying how she wishes that
she could tell him that she loves him again and again

 "The brightness of her cheek would shame

those stars As daylight doth a lamp; her
eyes in heaven" (Act 2 Scene 2)
Metaphor
 A comparison between two things that are
otherwise unrelated.
The comparison is not announced by like or as.

Example: The road was a ribbon wrapped

through the desert.
Metaphore examples Romeo & Juliet

 "A plague o' both your houses! They have

made worms' meat of me." -Mercutio
 (personification and metaphor)
 Antithesis
 An antithesis is when one word (or group of words) is
set against another word (or group of words) which
have an opposite meaning.
 In Romeo and Juliet, the emotions of love and hate
are the lifeblood of the play.
 Everything that happens seems to be caused by one,
or both, of these two opposite forces.

 ‘Here’s much to do with love but more with hate’

 ‘My only love sprung from my only hate!’

Oxymoron
 In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare makes
frequent use of a particular type of antithesis:
the oxymoron.
 This is when two conflicting ideas are
contained within a single phrase, maybe in
just two words.
 An oxymoron is a self-contradicting word or
group of words
 "Why, then, O brawling love! O loving hate!".
Alliteration
 Repeated consonant sounds occurring at
the beginning of words or within words.
Example: She was wide-eyed and
wondering while she waited for Walter
to waken.
Personification
 A figure of speech which gives the
qualities of a person to an animal, an
object, or an idea.
Example: “The wind yells while blowing."
The wind cannot yell. Only a living thing can
yell.
Personification in Romeo & Juliet
 "It is the East, and Juliet is the sun!
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief"
(Act 2 Scene 2)
 "He was not born to shame.
Upon his brow shame is asham'd to sit."
(Act 3 Scene 2)
Hyperbole
 An exaggerated statement used to
heighten effect. It is not used to
mislead the reader, but to emphasize
a point.
Example: She’s said so on several
million occasions.
Onomatopoeia
 The use of words that mimic
sounds.
Example: The firecracker made a
loud ka-boom!
Idioms
 An idiom or idiomatic expression refers to
a construction or expression in one
language that cannot be matched or
directly translated word-for-word in
another language.
Example: "She has a bee
in her bonnet," meaning
"she is obsessed,"
cannot be literally
translated into another
language word for word.