Figurative Language and Types

of Poetry • Mr. Pettine

• English 9 – August 13

Figurative Language and Literary

Terms

9/16/14

English 9

Mr. Pettine

Allusion

• A reference to a historical aspect, person, or a

text.

• Example: “No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor

was meant to be; Am an attendant lord, one

that will do

• To swell a progress, start a scene or two,

• Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool” –

“Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” – T.S. Eliot

Simile

• A comparison between of two unlike things

using like or as

• Example: “My love is like a red, red, rose /

That’s newly sprung in June” – “Red, Red,

Rose” -- Robert Burns

Epic Simile

• Also known as Homeric Simile, is a detailed

comparison in the form of a simile that is

many lines in length

• Example: “Think of a catch that fishermen

haul in to a half-moon bay / in a fine meshed

net from the whitecaps of the sea; / how all are

poured out on the sand, in throes for the salt

sea, / Twitching their cold lives away in

Helios’ fiery air; / so lay the suitors heaped on

one another”

Metaphor

• A comparison of two unlike things not using

like, as, than, or resembles

• EXAMPLE: “All the world's a stage,/

And all the men and women merely players;/

They have their exits and their entrances;” –

As You Like It – William Shakespeare

Hyperbole

• A figure of speech using extreme exaggeration

• EXAMPLE: “I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand

brothers / Could not with all their quantity of

love / Make up my sum.” -- Hamlet – William

Shakespeare

Idiom

• Expression peculiar to a particular language

that means something different from the literal

meaning of each word.

• EXAMPLE: “That blouse costs an arm and a

leg,” and “You’re pulling my leg!”

Imagery

• Writing that appeals to the senses.

• EXAMPLE: “Sling your knuckles on the

bottoms of the happy tin pans, let your

trombones ooze, and go husha-husha-hush

with the slippery sand-paper.” – “Jazz

Fantasia” – Carl Sandburg

Oxymoron

• A combination of two contradictory terms,

• EXAMPLE: “His honour rooted in dishonour

stood, /And faith unfaithful kept him falsely

true.” Idylls of the King – Alfred Tennyson

• EASIER EXAMPLES: Living dead, deafening

silence, sweet sorrow

Personification

• The use of human qualities in non-human subjects

• EXAMPLE: “There was no answer from outside, so Rikki-tikki knew Nagaina had gone away. Nag coiled himself down, coil by coil, round the bulge at the bottom of the water-jar, and Rikki-tikki stayed still as death. After an hour he began to move, muscle by muscle, toward the jar. Nag was asleep, and Rikki-tikki looked at his big back, wondering which would be the best place for a good hold. ``If I don't break his back at the first jump,'' said Rikki, ``he can still fight; and if he fights -- O Rikki!'' He looked at the thickness of the neck below the hood, but that was too much for him; and a bite near the tail would only make Nag savage.” – “Rikki-Tikki Tavi” – Rudyard Kipling

Epithet

• Adjective or descriptive phrase that is

regularly used to characterize a person, place,

or thing.

• EXAMPLE: “When the child of morning,

rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared…” The

Odyssey – Homer

• “To his house went the goddess, grey-eyed

Athena, devising a return for the great-hearted

Odysseus.” The Odyssey -- Homer

Euphemism

• Use of inoffensive words to replace something

which is harsh, unpleasant, or possibly

offensive

• EXAMPLES: “a little thin on top” – bald

• “Powder room” – go to restroom

• “in the family way” – pregnant

• “visit from the stork” – give birth

Dialect

• Regional variety of language, a regional

variety of a language, with differences in

vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation

• EXAMPLE: Jim: “We’s safe, Huck, we’s

safe! Jump up and crack yo’ heels. Dat’s de

good ole Cairo at las’, I jis knows it.”

Huck: “I’ll take the canoe and go see, Jim. It

mightn’t be, you know.” – Adventures of

Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain

Lyric Poem

• A lyric poem is a highly musical verse

that expresses the thoughts, observations,

and feelings of a single speaker.

Lyric Poem

• I hid my love when young till I

• Couldn't bear the buzzing of a fly;

• I hid my love to my despite

• Till I could not bear to look at light:

• I dare not gaze upon her face

• But left her memory in each place;

• Where'er I saw a wild flower lie

• I kissed and bade my love good-bye

• John Clare “I Hid My Love”

Ballad

• A ballad is a song that tells a story.

Literary ballads are poems which often

contain sensational stories of tragedy or

adventure. Often feature repetition and

have regular rhyme schemes

Ballad

• When John Henry was a little tiny baby

• Sitting on his mama's knee,

• He picked up a hammer and a little piece of steel

• Saying, "Hammer's going to be the death of me, Lord, Lord,

• Hammer's going to be the death of me."

• John Henry was a man just six feet high,

• Nearly two feet and a half across his breast.

• He'd hammer with a nine-pound hammer all day

• And never get tired and want to rest, Lord, Lord,

• And never get tired and want to rest. -- Anonymous “John Henry”

Sonnet

• A fourteen line lyric poem, usually in

rhymed iambic pentameter. The

Shakespearean sonnet consists of three

quatrains (4 line stanzas) and a couplet.

The Petrarchan sonnet consists of an

octave (8 line stanza) and a sestet (6 line

stanza).

Sonnet

• Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimm'd; But thy eternal summer shall not fade Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st; Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st; So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

• Sonnet 18 - Shakespeare

Narrative Poem

• A narrative poem is one that tells a story.

Narrative Poem

• The sneer is gone from Casey's lip, his teeth are clenched in hate; He pounds with cruel violence his bat upon the plate. And now the pitcher holds the ball, and now he lets it go, And now the air is shattered by the force of Casey's blow.

• Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright; The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light, And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout; But there is no joy in Mudville - mighty Casey has struck out

Epic

• An epic is a long narrative poem about the

deeds of gods or heroes. An epic is

elevated in style and usually follows

certain patterns. An epic reflects the

qualities and values of a society.

Oral Tradition

• Oral Tradition – the passing of the songs,

stories, and poems from generation to

generation. Many folk songs, ballads, fairy

tales, legends, and myths originated in the

oral tradition.

Epic Simile • Also known as Homeric Simile, is a

detailed comparison in the form of a simile

that is many lines in length

• Example: “Think of a catch that fishermen

haul in to a half-moon bay / in a fine

meshed net from the whitecaps of the sea;

/ how all are poured out on the sand, in

throes for the salt sea, / Twitching their

cold lives away in Helios’ fiery air; / so lay

the suitors heaped on one another”