FIGURES OF

SPEECH
• Authors often use figures of
speech in both literature and
poetry to enhance their writing.

• Figures of speech present

ordinary things in new or
unusual ways.

• They communicate ideas that

go beyond the words' usual,
literal meanings.
They run like the wind.
The snow is as thick as a
blanket.
 1. Simile
• compares two unlike objects
through the use of as or like

Other examples:
a. His temper was as
explosive as a volcano.
b. You are acting like a baby.
He is as light as a feather.
His skin is like a rose.
Life is a roller coaster.
 2. Metaphor
• compares two unlike
objects without the
use of like or as
Her lovely voice was music to his
ears.
 Other examples:
a. I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No one comes
to the Father except
through me. (John. 14:16)
b. The Lord is my rock, my
fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in
whom I take refuge, my
shield and the horn of my
salvation, my stronghold.
(Psalm 18:2)
c. I am the bread of life; he
who comes to me will not
hunger, and he who
believes in me will never
thirst. (John 6:35)
________ is a race car.
My pulse is a race car.
_____ were fireflies.
Her eyes were fireflies.
The stars in the clear night
sky winked at me.
 3. Personification

• gives human traits or

characteristics to
inanimate objects
This city never sleeps.
 Other examples:
a. The bees played hide and
seek with the flowers as
they buzzed from one to
another.
b. The fire swallowed the
entire forest.
The tulips nodded their heads in
the breeze.
The flower is begging for
water.
I'd move mountain for her.
His smile was a smile
wide.
 4. Hyperbole
• is a deliberate exaggeration

Examples:
a. I ate so much last night, I
must weigh more than a
whale.
b. Your backpack weighs a ton!
Suddenly the room filled with a
deafening silence.
 5. Oxymoron

• composed of a pair of
contradictory words
 Examples:
a.My trip to Bali was very
much a working holiday.

b.We laughed and cried

through the tragic
comedy.
c. Parting is such sweet
sorrow.

d. He has become an
extremely unpopular
celebrity.
Other examples:

bitter sweet
silent scream
same difference
genuine immitation
In every cry of every man,
In every infant's cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban,
The mind-forged manacles I
hear:

— William Blake, London

 6. Anaphora

- consists of repeating a
sequence of words at the
beginnings of neighboring
clauses, thereby lending
them emphasis
 Examples:
a. Every day, every night,
in every way, I am getting
better and better.

b. “My life is my purpose.

My life is my goal. My life
is my inspiration.
O Wind, if Winter
comes,
Can Spring be far
behind?
 7. Apostrophe
- some absent or
nonexistent person or
thing is addressed as if
present and capable of
understanding
 Examples:

a. Bright star, would I were

steadfast as thou art

(John Keats, "Bright Star")

b. Then come, sweet death,
and rid me of this grief.

[(Queen Isabel in Edward II

by Christopher Marlowe)]