Transcript Literary Terms Figurative Language

Literary Terms:
Figurative Language
Comparison and Contrast
notes from Mr. Steven Van Zoost
Figurative language
1. Comparison
Simile
Metaphor
Personification
Metonymy
Allusion
Symbol
Euphemism
2. Contrast
Oxymoron
Irony
Verbal Irony
Dramatic Irony
Situational Irony
Antithesis
Litotes
Paradox
Juxtaposition
1. Comparison
Simile - a kind of comparison
that uses “like” or “as”:
a) John is as friendly as
a dead fish.
b) Mrs. G. looks like
a dried prune.
c) My love is like
a red, red rose.
Metaphor - a comparison of two
different things; the figurative part,
while different, shares in key ways
an identity with the literal part:
a) My brother is a donkey.
b) Ah, sweet rose, be my love.
Personification – a kind of metaphor
in which the literal, non-human
element is given human qualities:
a) The sea whispered its secrets to me (verb).
b) The green hair lay fallen on the ground (noun).
c) Truth spoke to me last night.
Metonymy – referring to one part of
something, intending for it to
represent the whole:
a) I am loyal to the crown (king).
b) Honest sweat is what makes money (hard work).
c) The government gives us security from the cradle
to the grave (birth, death).
d) He is a man of the cloth.
e) The pen is mightier than the sword
Allusion – casual but meaningful
reference to an historical or literal
personage or event.
Symbol – a concrete image which is
literally present but which by its
continued use suggests a secondary
level(s) of meaning, richer and
deeper and broader than the first.
a) raven – death
b) rain – rebirth
c) voyage – life
Euphemism - glossing over the
blunt and often unpleasant truth by
means of indirect statement
a) died – passed away
b) drunk – tipsy
c) toilet - w.c. (water closet, restroom)
2. Contrast
Oxymoron – combining opposite
ideas in one expression for effect:
a) She endured a living death.
b) His eloquent silence moved the crowd.
c) What a wise fool.
Irony is a contrast between reality
and what seems to be real.
Situational irony exists when the outcome of
the situation is the opposite of someone’s
expectations.
Verbal irony exists when a person says one
thing and means another.
Dramatic irony occurs when the audience
has important information that characters in a
literary work do not have.
Antithesis - opposition, or contrast of
ideas or words in a balanced or
parallel construction.
a) Brutus: Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved
Rome more. (Shakespeare, Julius Caesar)
b) “The vases of the classical period are but the
reflection of classical beauty; the vases of the archaic
period are beauty itself.” (Sir John Beazley)
Litotes - understatement, for
intensification, by denying the
contrary of the thing being affirmed.
(Sometimes used synonymously with
meiosis.)
a) A few unannounced quizzes are not inconceivable.
b) War is not healthy for children and other
living things.
c) One nuclear bomb can ruin your whole day. (meiosis)
Paradox - A situation or a statement
that seems to contradict itself, but on
closer inspection, does not.
“What a pity that youth must be wasted on the young.”
(George Bernard Shaw)
Juxtaposition - Juxtapose is simply
the placement of two things closely
together to establish comparisons or
contrasts.