IB FIG lang

Metaphor

a figure of speech which makes a direct comparison of two unlike objects by identification or substitution.

But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon

Metaphor: Tener

the idea the writer wishes to convey

ex. Juliet’s radiant beauty

Metaphor: vehicle

the means of its conveyance

ex. the sun and its brightness

Simile

a direct comparison of two unlike objects, using like or as

ex. The holy time is quiet as a nun

(William Wordsworth,  

"On the Beach at Calais")

 

And like a thunderbolt he falls

(Alfred, Lord Tennyson,  "The Eagle")

Conceit

an extended metaphor comparing two unlike objects with powerful effect.  (It owes its roots to elaborate analogies in Petrarch and to the Metaphysical poets, particularly Donne.)

ex.If they be two, they are two so

As stiff twin compasses are two;

Thy soul, the fix'd foot, makes no show

To move, but doth, if th' other do.

(John Donne,"Valediction Forbidding Mourning")

Personfication

figure of speech in which objects and animals have human qualities.

ex. Into the jaws of Death,

Into the mouth of Hell.

• (Alfred, Lord Tennyson,  "The Charge of the Light Brigade")

Apostrophe

addressing a person or personified object not present.

ex. Little Lamb, who made thee?

(William Blake,  "The Lamb")

• O loss of sight, of thee I most complain!

(John Milton, "Samson Agonistes")

Metonymy

the substitution of a word which relates to the object or person to be named, in place of the name itself.

ex. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread

• Book of Genesis

Synecdoche

figure of speech in which a part represents the whole object or idea.

ex. Not a hair  perished.  [person]

• (William Shakespeare,   The Tempest )

 

And all mankind that haunted nigh

Had sought their household fire  [homes]

• (Thomas Hardy,  "The Darkling Thrush")

Hyperbole

gross exaggeration for effect; overstatement.

ex. Love you ten years before the Flood,

• Andrew Marvell,  "To His Coy Mistress"

Litotes

understatement for effect.

ex.But she is in her grave, and, oh, 

The difference to me!

• (William Wordsworth, "She Dwelt Among Untrodden Ways")

• [Wordsworth deeply loved the woman, and therefore felt deep sorrow not hinted at in these casual lines.]

Pathetic Fallacy

• A special type of personification, in which inanimate aspects of nature, such as the landscape or the weather, are represented as having human qualities or feelings. The idea that nature can sympathize with human moods or concerns. It is no longer considered a pejorative term.

ex. In Hamlet, the ghost appears on a cold, winter night

irony

• the contrast between actual meaning and the suggestion of another meaning.

  three categories of irony

  • Verbal irony

  • Situational irony

  • Dramatic irony

verbal irony

meaning one thing and saying another.

next to of course god america i love you\

• (e.e. cummings)

Situational irony

• when the reality of a situation differs from the anticipated or intended effect; when something unexpected occurs.

What rough beast, its hour come round at last

Slouches toward Bethehem to be born?

• (William Butler Yeats,  "The Second Coming")

• [The second coming of Christ is intended, but a rough beast will come instead.]

Dramatic irony

• When the audience has information that a character(s) does not. It serves to heighten the audience’s level of engagement; it creates suspense

  .Don’t kill yourself, Romeo! She just drank sleeping potion, you idiot!”

Symbolism

the use of one object to suggest another, hidden object or idea.

• In Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken,"  the fork in the road represents a major decision in life, each road a separate way of life.

 

• Gerard Manley Hopkins' "The Caged Skylark":  "As a dare-gale skylark scanted in a dull cage" symbolizes man's spirit contained within the domains of society.

imagery

the use of words to represent things, actions, or ideas by sensory description.

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;

Close to the sun in lonely lands,

Ringed with the azure world, he stands.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;

He watches from his mountain walls,

And like a thunderbolt he falls.

• (Alfred, Lord Tennyson,  "The Eagle")

paradox

• a statement which appears self-contradictory, but underlines a basis of truth.

Elected silence, sing to me.

(Gerard Manley Hopkins,  "The Habit of Perfection")

Oxymoron

• contradictory terms brought together to express a paradox for strong effect.

Beautiful tyrant!  fiend angelical!

Dove-feathered raven!  wolvish-ravening lamb!

• (William Shakespeare,  Romeo and Juliet )

Allusion

• a reference to an outside fact, event, or other source.

World-famous golden-thighed Pythagoras

Fingered upon a fiddle-stick or strings

What a star sang and careless Muses heard

• (William Butler Yeats,  "Among School Children"

• [Pythagoras--Greek mathematician;  Muses---mythological goddesses of beauty and music]