Figurative Language

When one describes something by contrasting it with something else, they are utilizing figurative language. Figurative language depicts the utilization of language to describe something by contrasting it to something else. It serves numerous linguistic purposes. It permits individuals to express abstract thoughts. It communicates emotional content and develops tone. The capability to utilize figurative language in writing could make a story or poem more enjoyable to those reading. Figurative language is utilizing words beyond their literal description and could come in numerous different kinds, all to develop a vivid picture of the inscribed word.

The word figurative language encompasses a wide array of literary techniques and devices and they comprise metaphor, simile, oxymoron, personification, imagery, idiom, allusion, hyperbole, alliteration, irony, sarcasm. A metaphor depicts the figure of speech that classifies one thing with another. Metaphors never use as or like but equate two aspects you are contrasting (Markelis, 2018). Effective metaphors seize the reader’s attention and developing clear, strong, interesting images aids the reader in better to comprehend and remember the point.

A simile is a specific kind of metaphor that contrasts two objects that are specifically not like one another. Unlike a metaphor, a simile introduces that contrast with the words “as” or “like”. Personification is offering animals, ideas, and inanimate objects personality, emotion, or human form. Though one would never want to use personification too much in your essay, some personification use could make an essay rhetorically effective and interesting. Onomatopoeia depicts the utilization of descriptive words that mimic or sound the noise they are depicting (Markelis, 2018).

An oxymoron is a depiction utilizing two opposite ideas to develop an effective description. The setup is often an adjective ensued by a noun. A hyperbole depicts an over-exaggeration utilized to emphasize a description or emotion. At times, hyperbole also executes the utilization of comparative words and simile. An idiom is a frequently utilized expression that has attained a meaning disparate from its literal meaning. Idiomatic phrases differ by language and culture (Markelis, 2018).

References

Markelis, D. (2018). ENG 4761-001: Advanced Nonfiction Writing.