Back to: LITERATURE IN ENGLISH SS1
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In today’s class, we will be talking about figures of speech. Enjoy the class!
Figures of Speech
Meaning of figures of speech
Figures of speech can be defined as the use of a word or a phrase, which transcends its literal interpretation. It can be a special repetition, arrangement or omission of words with literal meaning, or a phrase with a specialized meaning not based on the literal meaning of words in I, as in idiom, metaphor, simile, hyperbole, personification, or synecdoche. Figures of speech often provide emphasis, the freshness of expression, or clarity.
However, clarity may also suffer from their use, as any figure of speech introduces an ambiguity between literal and figurative interpretation. A figure of speech is sometimes called a rhetorical figure or a locution.
Types of figures of speech
1. Alliteration:
Alliteration is a series of words or phrases that all (or almost all) start with the same sound. These sounds are typically consonants to give more stress to that syllable. You’ll often come across alliteration in poetry, titles of books and poems and tongue twisters.
The popular writer, Jane Austen is a fan of this device, for example, her books Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility exemplifies this.
Also, another example is the tongue twister “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.”
2. Anaphora:
Anaphora is when a word or phrase is repeated at the beginning of multiple sentences throughout a piece of writing. It’s used to emphasize the repeated phrase and evoke strong feelings in the audience. A famous example of anaphora is Winston Churchill’s “We Shall Fight on the Beaches” speech. Throughout this speech, he repeats the phrase “we shall fight” while listing numerous places where the British army will continue battling during WWII. He did this to rally both troops and the British people and to give them confidence that they would still win the war.
3. Euphemism:
A euphemism is when a more mild or indirect word or expression is used in place of another word or phrase that is considered harsh, blunt, vulgar, or unpleasant. An example is “I’m so sorry, but he didn’t make it.” The phrase “didn’t make it” is a more polite and less blunt way of saying that someone has died.
4. Hyperbole:
Hyperbole is an exaggerated statement that’s not meant to be taken literally by the reader. It is often used for comedic effect and/or emphasis. An example is: “He ate a mountain of pounded yam”. The individual in question is not eating a mountain but rather a pounded yam that is much in appearance.
5. Imagery:
Imagery is when an author describes a scene, thing, or idea so that it appeals to our senses (taste, smell, sight, touch, or hearing). This device is often used to help the reader visualize parts of the story by creating a strong mental picture. A typical example is seen in William Wordsworth’s famous poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”:
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden Daffodils;
Beside the Lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
6. Irony:
The irony is when a statement is used to express an opposite meaning than the one expressed by it. There are three types of irony in literature:
- Verbal irony: When someone says something but means the opposite (similar to sarcasm). An example of this type of irony can be found in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado”. In this short story, a man named Montresor plans to get revenge on another man named Fortunato. As they toast, Montresor says, “And I, Fortunato – I drink to your long life.” This statement is ironic because we the readers already know by this point that Montresor plans to kill Fortunato.
- Situational irony: When something happens that’s the opposite of what was expected or intended to happen. An example of this is seen in the case whereby a girl wakes up late for school and quickly rushes to get there. As soon as she arrives, though, she realizes that it’s Saturday and there is no school.
- Dramatic irony: When the audience is aware of the true intentions or outcomes, while the characters are not. As a result, certain actions and/or events take on different meanings for the audience than they do for the characters involved. An example of this is seen in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Romeo commits suicide to be with Juliet; however, the audience (unlike poor Romeo) knows that Juliet is not dead – just asleep.
7. Onomatopoeia:
Onomatopoeia is a word (or group of words) that represents a sound and resembles or imitates the sound it stands for. It is often used for dramatic, realistic, or poetic effect. Examples include Buzz, boom, chirp, creak, sizzle, zoom, etc.
8. Oxymoron:
An oxymoron is a combination of two words that, together, express a contradictory meaning. This device is often used for emphasis, for humour, to create tension, or to illustrate a paradox (see next entry for more information on paradoxes). Example include deafening silence, organized chaos, cruelly kind, insanely logical, etc.
9. Paradox:
A paradox is a statement that appears illogical or self-contradictory but, upon investigation, might be true or plausible. Note that a paradox is different from an oxymoron: a paradox is an entire phrase or sentence, whereas an oxymoron is a combination of just two words. An example of this is the famous paradoxical sentence: “This statement is false.” If the statement is true, then it isn’t false (as it suggests). But if it’s false, then the statement is true!
Thus, this statement is a paradox because it is both true and false at the same time. Another popular example is seen in William Wordsworth’s poem titled “My Heart Leaps Up”. In the poem seventh line, the example “The child is the father of the man” is seen. This indicates that the character that we form as children stay with us into our adult life.
10. Personification:
Personification is when a nonhuman figure or other abstract concept or element is described as having human-like qualities or characteristics. (Unlike anthropomorphism where non-human figures become human-like characters, with personification, the object/figure is simply described as being human-like.) Personification is used to help the reader create a clearer mental picture of the scene or object being described. Examples include:” The computer swallowed its floppies”; “The wind moaned, beckoning me to come outside” and “The sun is smiling at me”.
11. Repetition:
Repetition is when a word or phrase is written multiple times, usually for emphasis. It is often used in poetry (for purposes of rhythm as well). An example is seen in the Tony Awards where Lin-Manuel Miranda recited a poem he had written with the following line: “And love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love cannot be killed or swept aside”.
12. Synecdoche:
A synecdoche is a literary device in which part of something is used to represent the whole or vice versa. It’s similar to a metonym. However, a metonym doesn’t have to represent the whole – just something associated with the word used. An example is: “Help me out, I need some hands!” In this case, “hands” is being used to refer to people (the whole human, essentially).
In our next class, we will be talking more about the Figures of Speech. We hope you enjoyed the class.
Should you have any further question, feel free to ask in the comment section below and trust us to respond as soon as possible.
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