Figurative/Literary

Devices
Language Techniques
COM 101
 What Are They?
• Although these may be found in all types
of writing, they are most evident in
Narrative/Descriptive writing.
• Figurative language is any figure of
speech which depends on a non-
literal meaning of some or all of the
words used. There are many types of
figurative language, including literary
devices
 Alliteration
• Alliteration is a literary device that reflects repetition in two or more nearby
words of initial consonant sounds. Alliteration does not refer to the
repetition of consonant letters that begin words, but rather the repetition of
the consonant sound at the beginning of words.
• https://literarydevices.net/
 Alliteration Examples
• Peter Piper • Flying Flea
• Peter Piper picked a peck • A fly and flea flew into a flue,
of pickled peppers. said the fly to the flea ‘what shall we
A peck do?’
of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. ‘let us fly’ said the flea
If Peter Piper picked a peck said the fly ‘shall we flee’
of pickled peppers, so they flew through a flaw in the flue.
Where’s the peck
of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked
?
 Assonance
• Assonance is a literary device in which the repetition of similar vowel sounds
takes place in two or more words in proximity to each other within a line of
poetry or prose. Assonance most often refers to the repetition of internal
vowel sounds in words that do not end the same.
 Assonance Examples
• In Phrases • In Music
• Goodnight, sleep tight, don’t let the • “The rain in Spain stays mainly in the
bedbugs bite plain” (musical “My Fair Lady”)
• Lean, mean, fighting machine • “Silent night, holy night, all is calm,
all is bright” (“Silent Night” Joseph
• Wild child Mohr)
• Chips and dip • “Oh, give me a home where the
buffalo roam” (“Home on the Range”
Daniel E. Kelley and Brewster M.
Higley)
 Hyperbole
• Hyperbole is a figure of speech and literary device that creates heightened
effect through deliberate exaggeration. Hyperbole is often a boldly overstated
or exaggerated claim or statement that adds emphasis without the intention
of being literally true. In rhetoric and literature, hyperbole is often used for
serious, comic, or ironic effect.
•
 Hyperbole Examples
• In Speech
• I’m so hungry that I could eat a horse.
• That purse looks like it cost a million
dollars.
• This race is going to be the death of me.
• I’m so tired that I could sleep for a week.
• That song is the worst thing I have ever
heard.
• In Movies
• I’m just one stomach flu away from my
goal weight. (The Devil Wears Prada)
• I’m the king of the world! (Titanic)
• We are going to pull off the true crime of
the century. We are going to steal the moon!
(Despicable Me)
• As God is my witness, I’ll never be hungry
again (Gone with the Wind)
 Imagery
• Imagery is a literary device that refers to the use of figurative language to
evoke a sensory experience or create a picture with words for a reader. By
utilizing effective descriptive language and figures of speech, writers appeal
to a reader’s senses of sight, taste, smell, touch, and sound, as well as internal
emotion and feelings. Therefore, imagery is not limited to visual
representations or mental images, but also includes physical sensations and
internal emotions.
• N.B. Imagery can also make use of other literary devices such as simile,
metaphor and personification.
 Imagery Examples
• In Poetry • In Literature
• so much depends • The color is repellant, almost revolting;
upon // a red wheel a smouldering unclean yellow, strangely
barrow // glazed with rain faded by the slow-turning sunlight.
water // beside the white It is a dull yet lurid orange in some
chickens places, a sickly sulphur tint in others.
No wonder the children hated it! I
• (The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos should hate it myself if I had to live in
Williams) this room long. (The Yellow Wallpaper by
Charlotte Perkins Gilman)
 Litotes
• Litotes is a figure of speech featuring a phrase that utilizes negative wording
or terms to express a positive assertion or statement. Litotes is a common
literary device, most often used in speech, rhetoric, and nonfiction. As a
figure of speech, the meaning of litotes is not literal. Instead, litotes is
intended to be a form of understatement by using negation to express the
contrary meaning. This is a clever use of language in its combination of
negative terms as a function to express a positive sentiment or statement.
 Litotes Examples
• In Speech
• The novel is not bad.
• You’re not wrong.
• I can’t disagree with your logic.
• In Disney Movies
• This is no ordinary lamp! (Disney’s Aladdin)
• He’s no Prince Charming.
(Disney’s Beauty and the Beast)
• In Speeches/Non-Fiction Writing
• Indeed, it is not uncommon for slaves even
to fall out and quarrel among themselves
about the relative goodness of their masters,
each contending for the superior goodness
of his own over that of the others.
(Frederick Douglass)
• My father had three wives. Polygamy was not
uncommon in that country, especially among
the rich, as every man was allowed to keep as
many wives as he could maintain. (Venture
Smith)
 Metaphor
• A metaphor is a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two
unlike things. As a literary device, metaphor creates implicit comparisons
without the express use of “like” or “as.” Metaphor is a means of asserting
that two things are identical in comparison rather than just similar. This is
useful in literature for using specific images or concepts to state abstract
truths.
 Metaphor Examples
• In Speech • In Movies
• Laughter is the best medicine. • Hell is a teenage girl. (Jennifer’s Body)
• She is just a late bloomer. • You sit on a throne of lies. (Elf)
• He’s buried in a sea of paperwork. • Say ‘hello’ to my little friend.
• We found it under a blanket of (Scarface)
sand. • The rain on my car is a baptism.
(Say Anything)
 Onomatopoeia
• Onomatopoeia, pronounced on-uh-mat-uh–pee–uh, is defined as a word
which imitates the natural sounds of a thing. It creates a sound effect that
mimics the thing described, making the description more expressive and
interesting.
• Generally, words are used to tell what is happening. Onomatopoeia, on the
other hand, helps readers to hear the sounds of the words they reflect.
 Onomatopoeia Examples
• The buzzing bee flew away.
• The sack fell into the river with a splash.
• The books fell on the table with a
loud thump.
• He looked at the roaring
• The rustling leaves kept me awake.
• In Literature
• “It went zip when it moved and bop when
it stopped,
And whirr when it stood still.
I never knew just what it was and I guess I
never will.” The Marvelous Toy By Tom
Paxton
• “The moan of doves in immemorial elms,
And murmuring of innumerable
bees…” Come Down, O Maid By Alfred
Lord Tennyson
 Oxymoron
• Oxymoron is a figure of speech pairing two words together that are
opposing and/or contradictory. This combination of contrary or antithetical
words is also known in conversation as a contradiction in terms. As a literary
device, oxymoron has the effect of creating an impression, enhancing a
concept, and even entertaining the reader.
 Oxymoron Examples
• Common Examples
• Only choice
• Same difference
• Friendly fire
• Virtual reality
• Stiff Drink
• In Everyday Conversation
• My sister and I had a friendly fight over
the lipstick.
• I think the professor stated his unbiased
opinion regarding the student response.
• You look awfully pretty in that coat.
• Sarah ate the whole piece of pie.
• The carpenters left the bench completely
unfinished.
 Paradox
• A paradox is a statement that appears at first to be contradictory, but upon
reflection then makes sense. This literary device is commonly used to engage
a reader to discover an underlying logic in a seemingly self-contradictory
statement or phrase. As a result, paradox allows readers to understand
concepts in a different and even non-traditional way.
 Paradox Examples
• Common Examples
• You’re damned if you do and
damned if you don’t
• The enemy of my enemy is my
friend
• The beginning of the end
• If you don’t risk anything, you risk
everything
• The only constant is change
• In Movies
• “Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here! This is the War Room.” (Dr.
Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the
Bomb)
• “If everyone is special, no one is.” (Disney’s The Incredibles)
• “The first rule about fight club is you don’t talk about fight club.
The second rule about fight club is you don’t talk about fight
club.” (Fight Club)
• “It appears that I now have an outlaw for an in-law.” (Disney’s
Robin Hood)
• “Me, I always tell the truth. Even when I lie.” (Scarface)
 Oxymoron vs. Paradox
• Many people confuse paradox and oxymoron as literary devices or find them
interchangeable. Both of these terms reflect apparent contradictions when it comes to ideas
and phrasing. However, a paradox involves a larger scope than an oxymoron. Paradox is a
statement or group of statements that seems to be self-contradictory as to what is
logical, yet delivers the message of an inherent plausibility, truth, or meaning.
• An oxymoron, however, is a combination and juxtaposition of two words that
contradict each other, but serve as a sound or logical figure of speech. Whereas
oxymoron is a contradiction in terms, paradox is made up of contradictory phrases
or sentences. However, both oxymoron and paradox can achieve similar effects as a means
of manipulating language through opposing words and ideas to create deeper meaning.
 Personification
• Personification is a figure of speech in which an idea or thing is given human
attributes and/or feelings or is spoken of as if it were human.
Personification is a common form of metaphor in that human characteristics
are attributed to non-human things. This allows writers to create life and
motion within inanimate objects, animals, and even abstract ideas by
assigning them recognizable human behaviors and emotions.
 Personification Examples
• Common Examples
• My alarm yelled at me this morning.
• I like onions, but they don’t like me.
• The sign on the door insulted my
intelligence.
• My phone is not cooperating with me
today.
• This advertisement is speaking to me.
• In Everyday Conversation
• Her eyes are not smiling at us.
• Also, my brain is not working fast
enough today.
• Those windows are watching us.
• Our coffee maker wishes us good
morning.
• The sun kissed my cheeks when I went
outside.
 Pun
• A pun is a literary device that is also known as a “play on words.” Puns
involve words with similar or identical sounds but with different meanings.
Their play on words also relies on a word or phrase having more than one
meaning. Puns are generally intended to be humorous, but they often have a
serious purpose as well in literary works.
 Pun Examples
• In Everyday Conversation
• The cyclist was two tired to win the
race.
• Her cat is near the computer to keep
an eye on the mouse.
• When my algebra teacher retired, he
wasn’t ready for the aftermath.
• This vacuum sucks.
• Famous Examples
• “Atheism is a non-prophet
organization.” (George Carlin)
• “I am a very committed wife. And I
should be committed too – for being
married so many times.” (Elizabeth
Taylor)
• “The cafeteria staff requests sidekicks
stop ordering hero sandwiches.” (from
motion picture “Sky High”)
 Simile
• A simile is a figure of speech in which two essentially dissimilar objects or
concepts are expressly compared with one another through the use of “like”
or “as.” Simile is used as a literary device to assert similarity with the help
of like or as, which are language constructs that establish equivalency. A
proper simile creates an explicit comparison between two things that are
different enough from each other such that their comparability appears
unlikely.
 Simile Examples
• Common Examples
• Slept like a log
• Sly as a fox
• Fits like a glove
• Cool as a cucumber
• Blind as a bat
• Famous Examples
• Easy Like Sunday Morning (Lionel
Richie)
• All those moments will be lost in time,
like… tears in rain. (Blade Runner)
• Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep
your balance, you must keep moving.
(Albert Einstein)
 Metaphor vs. Simile
• Some may find it difficult to differentiate between simile and metaphor as
literary devices since both are figures of speech designed to create meaning
through comparisons. Simile is actually a subset of metaphor and is
distinguished by the presence of one of two words: “like” and “as”.
Metaphors create direct comparisons without using either of these words,
whereas similes feature either like or as in making a comparison.