Lesson 1.

Figurative Language and

Literary Devices in Creative
Writing

Creative Writing
General Academic Strand | Humanities and Social Sciences
We are capable of
understanding and
perceiving the world
around us because our
body is designed to
receive information
through our sense organs.

2
We also use our sense organs
to experience the content of
the imaginative texts we
read. Because we are
capable of thinking in
images, we have the power
to transform words into
experiences.

3
As students of creative
writing, you should be
trained in how to use
words to let the readers
perceive something they
do not directly experience
using imagery and figures
of speech.

4
 Learning
Competency
Use imagery, diction, figures of speech,
and specific experiences to evoke
meaningful responses from readers.
(HUMSS_CW/MP11/ 12-Ia-b-1).

5
Learning
Objectives
● Identify the use of imagery in texts.
● Be familiar with the types of imagery.
● Identify different figures of speech.
● Use imagery and figures of speech in
an original work.

6
 Do I Sense Something?
Let’s
Begin
1. The table on the next slide shows different situations
we might encounter or experience in life. Cite words or
phrases that show how we perceive the things that
might occur or are present in these situations using the
sense organs that we have.

2. Here is an example:
Situation: Black Nazarene procession
Eyes: white hankies
Ears: a crowd of noisy devotees
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Essential
Questions
What are the types of imagery? What
figures of speech can we utilize for us to
effectively appeal to the reader's’ senses,
emotions, and feelings?

8
 Imagery

Imagery is the literary device that enables the writers to paint a

picture using words. This strategy involves using a catalyst, or a
trigger, to affect the reader's’ senses, emotions, and feelings.
9
Check Your
Progress

What is imagery? How does it help to bring the

text to life?

10
 Imagery
Types of Imagery

Visual Imagery appeals to the

reader’s sense of sight.

Example:

The bright orange sunset covers

the entire western sky.

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Imagery
Types of Imagery

Auditory imagery appeals to the

reader's sense of hearing.

Example:

The woman hums the tune to La

Vie En Rose; it sounds adenoidal as
if the sound comes from her nose.

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 Imagery
Types of Imagery

Olfactory imagery appeals to

the reader’s sense of smell.

Example:

Bernice went to the attic and she

smelt the strong yet addicting
scent of mothballs.
13
Imagery
Types of Imagery

Gustatory imagery appeals to

the reader’s sense of taste.

Example:

The crunch of the salted peanuts

filled Karli’s mouth as she waited
for the entree.
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Check Your
Progress

Create a set of sentences that contains visual,

auditory, olfactory, and gustatory imagery.

15
 Imagery
Types of Imagery

Tactile imagery appeals to the

reader’s sense of touch.

Example:

Nova, Brian’s dog, slobbered on

my face with her wet tongue.

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Writing
Tip
A thesaurus, or a dictionary of synonyms, is a
useful tool to discover words that can more
clearly portray the image you wish to impart to
the reader. Do you have a thesaurus at home?

17
Imagery
Types of Imagery

Kinesthetic imagery appeals to

the reader's sense of motion.

Example:

Amanda tried to knock at the

door five times before she gave
up and strutted out of the private
yard. 18
 Imagery
Types of Imagery

Organic imagery appeals to the reader’s

internal sensations and emotions.

Example:

The woman is too weary to think about

the hunger and thirst she is experiencing
right now.

19
Check Your
Progress

Create a set of sentences that contains tactile,

kinesthetic, and organic imagery.

20
 Figures of Speech

Figures of speech are the various strategic and creative

uses of language that deviate from its conventional order,
construction, or meaning. 21
 Figures of Speech
Simile

It is a figure of speech that directly expresses the

similarity between two objects. Most of them are
presented in the text through the use of the word as or
like.

Example:

That guy is as fast as lighting!

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 Figures of Speech
Metaphor

It is a figure of speech that declares that two objects are

identical.

Example:

You are the moon that guides me in the darkness.

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 Figures of Speech
Synesthesia
It is a figure of speech that is
utilized in a text by describing a
sense using a word or phrase that
is connected to other senses.

Example:

I already had a taste of America; it

was awesome!
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Check Your
Progress

How do figures of comparison intensify the

universal quality of a text?

25
 Figures of Speech
Oxymoron

It is a figure of speech that combines two contradicting

words or smaller verbal units to get the reader’s attention.

Example:

The end of the world may come through the rise of the
walking dead.

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 Figures of Speech
Paradox

It is a figure of speech that combines two contradicting

words that may actually be proven to be true.

Example:

As I ponder what kind of costume I should wear this

Halloween, Sabrina whispers to me, “Less is more, Anna.”

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Figures of Speech
Irony

It is a figure of speech that uses

language to express something that
is opposite of what is actually meant.
It has three types: verbal irony,
dramatic irony, and situational
irony.

28
Check Your
Progress

How do figures of contrast intensify the

universal quality of a text?

29
 Figures of Speech
Verbal Irony

A type of irony in which the words conveyed by someone

is the opposite of what he or she intends to express.

Example:

What a nice day to hang clothes outside! (The weather is

bad.)

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 Figures of Speech
Situational Irony

A type of irony in which the situation or action that

happened in the story is the opposite of what is expected
to occur.

Example:

The woman stole money from the thief.

31
 Figures of Speech
Dramatic Irony

A type of irony in which the readers know something in

the story that the characters do not.

Example:

The audience knows that the man is cheating on his wife

even if she is still clueless about it.

32
 Figures of Speech
Personification

It is a figure of speech that gives

animals, ideas, abstractions, and
inanimate objects human-like
characteristics.

Example:

The wind speaks to me; she is

angry. 33
 Figures of Speech
Apostrophe

It is a figure of representation in which an absent or a

nonexistent person, an inanimate object, or an abstract
quality is addressed directly in the text as if they are
present.

Example:

O Rizal, look what the youth is doing!

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 Figures of Speech
Allusion

It is a figure of reference to mythological, literary,

historical, biblical, scientific, or political figures, events,
places, or objects.

Example:

I see that we have an Einstein in this class.

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 Figures of Speech
Metonymy

It is a figure of representation wherein the name of the

object that is used in the text is being substituted with a
word that is closely related or associated to it.

Example:

I can’t wait to try the Carribean dish Mama Luisa cooked

for us.
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 Figures of Speech
Synecdoche

It is a figure of representation in which a part of

something signifies its whole or the whole of something
signifies its part.

Example:

How many heads attended the convention?

37
Check Your
Progress

How do figures of representation and reference

intensify the universal quality of a text?

38
 Figures of Speech
Anaphora

It is a figure of repetition in which the same word or

phrase is repeated at the initial part of two or more
sentences, clauses, or lines.

Example:

Mad people, mad government, mad country!

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Figures of Speech
Hyperbole

It is a figure of exaggeration used

to heighten effect or for humor.

Example:

That joke is so funny that I died

laughing!

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 Figures of Speech
Litotes

It is a figure of speech in which a thing is expressed by

declaring the negative of its opposite.

Example:

All in all, he’s not a bad singer. (It means that he is a good
singer.)

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 Figures of Speech
Pun, or Paronomasia

It is a figure of speech that plays with words.

Example:

That library is tall; it has thousands of stories!

(Stories may refer to the number of floors of a building, or the
narrative stories that books contain.)

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Check Your
Progress

How do anaphora, hyperbole, litotes, and

paronomasia intensify the universal quality of a
text?

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 Bring Me. Bring me a shoe if the statement is true;
otherwise, bring me a white sock.
Try This!

1. Gustatory imagery appeals to the sense of

smell.

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 Bring Me. Bring me a notebook if the statement is
true; otherwise, bring me a book.
Try This!

2. Organic imagery is used in a text if it

contains words that appeal to the readers’
feelings, and emotions.

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 Bring Me. Bring me a coin if the statement is true;
otherwise, bring me a money bill.
Try This!

3. Auditory imagery appeals to the sense of

hearing.

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 Bring Me. Bring me a water bottle if the statement is
true; otherwise, bring me a bag.
Try This!

4. Kinesthetic imagery is used in a text if it

contains words that appeal to the reader’s
sense of movement.

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 Bring Me. Bring me a pen if the statement is true;
Try This! otherwise, bring me a pencil.

5. The words that are connected to temperature

can be used to insert tactile imagery in the
text.

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 ● Imagery is the literary device that enables the
Wrap- writers to paint a picture using words. This
Up
strategy involves using a catalyst, or a trigger, to
affect the readers’ senses, emotions, and feelings.

● There are seven types of imagery. These are

visual imagery, auditory imagery, olfactory
imagery, gustatory imagery, tactile imagery,
kinesthetic imagery, and organic imagery. Each
of them gives off different sensory experiences to
the readers.
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 ● Figures of speech are the various strategic and
Wrap- creative uses of language that deviate from
Up
conventional order, construction, or meaning.

● Figures of speech are divided based on their function

in the text. In this lesson, we discussed figures of
comparison (simile and metaphor), figures of
representation or reference (synecdoche, metonymy,
personification, allusion, and apostrophe), figures of
contrast (oxymoron, paradox, and irony), and other
figures (hyperbole, pun, litotes, synesthesia, and
anaphora.) 50
 Create a quatrain (a four-line conventional poem
Challenge
that follows a rhyme scheme) using the writing
Yourself prompt below.

Writing Prompt: How will you describe the

Philippine government today?

Imagery: Use both visual and organic imagery.

Figure(s) of Speech: Use any figures of comparison

(simile and/or metaphor).

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Photo Credits
Slide no. 3: Five Senses by TheNickster is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Creative Commons.

Slide no. 4: Reading in Bed by Artotem is licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Creative Commons.

Slide no. 17: Eye by Denis Defrayne is licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Creative Commons.

Slide no. 18: Ear by Travis Isaacs is licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Creative Commons.

Slide no. 19: File:Fort Ross Elena wearing Traditional Russian Costume (cropped).jpg by Franco Folini is licensed
under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Creative Commons.

Slide no. 20: Sarah Stambaugh - boring tongue by Mike Burns is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Creative Commons
.

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Photo Credits
Slide no. 22: looking at my left hand by hortulus (Seán A. O'Hara) is licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Creative Commons
.

Slide no. 24: Busy Running by Paul David is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0 via Creative Commons.

Slide no. 25: 071/365 Crying by ocastanonb (Oscar Castanon) is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Creative Commons
.

Slide no. 34: File:Situational irony - Baker Street tube station.jpg by Dpbsmith at English Wikipedia is licensed under
CC BY-SA 3.0 via Creative Commons.

Slide no. 46: A bit hyperbolic, don't you think? by urbanfoodie33 is licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Creative Commons.

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Bibliography

Harmon, William. and C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1996.

MasterClass. “Poetry 101: What Is Imagery? Learn About the 7 Types of Imagery in Poetry With Examples.”
MasterClass. November 8, 2020.
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/poetry-101-what-is-imagery-learn-about-the-7-types-of-imagery-in-po
etry-with-examples#quiz-0

MasterClass, “Writing 101: What Is Figurative Language? Learn About 10 Types of Figurative Language With
Examples,” MasterClass, November 8, 2020.
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/writing-101-what-is-figurative-language-learn-about-10-types-of-figur
ative-language-with-examples#quiz-0
.

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Bibliography

Nordquist, Richard, “The Top 20 Figures of Speech” ThoughtCo, accessed on April 11, 2021.
https://www.thoughtco.com/top-figures-of-speech-1691818.

Nordquist, Richard, “What Is Imagery (in Language)?” ThoughtCo, accessed on April 11, 2021.
https://www.thoughtco.com/imagery-language-term-1691149#:~:text=Imagery%20is%20vivid%20descriptiv
e%20language,in%20particular%20metaphors%20and%20similes
.

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