essay about love with figures of speech

• The Passionate Shepherd to His Love

by Christopher Marlowe

Come live with me and be my love, And we will all the pleasures prove, That Valleys, groves, hills, and fields, Woods, or steepy mountain yields. And we will sit upon the Rocks, Seeing the Shepherds feed their flocks, By shallow Rivers to whose falls Melodious birds sing Madrigals. And I will make thee beds of Roses And a thousand fragrant posies, A cap of flowers, and a kirtle Embroidered all with leaves of Myrtle; A gown made of the finest wool Which from our pretty Lambs we pull; Fair lined slippers for the cold, With buckles of the purest gold; A belt of straw and Ivy buds, With Coral clasps and Amber studs: And if these pleasures may thee move, Come live with me, and be my love. The Shepherds’ Swains shall dance and sing For thy delight each May-morning: If these delights thy mind may move, Then live with me, and be my love.

Summary of The Passionate Shepherd to His Love

• Popularity of “ The Passionate Shepherd to His Love ”: This poem was written by Christopher Marlowe, a famous English poet and playwright. It is a famous pastoral poem about love and was first published in 1599. The young shepherd expresses his profound love and intense feelings for his mistress. Since its publication, it has won widespread popularity on account of its everlasting description of love.
• “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”, As a Representative of Love: As this poem is about love, the speaker describes his feelings of the blissfulness of his love. The poet, very skillfully, sketches a picture of his love and paints it with his heartfelt emotions and hope. As a desperate shepherd, he tries to win the heart of his lady with materialistic objects and details the things he can provide to give her an ideal life. He also promises that he will treat her like a queen and provides an idyllic picture of what her life could be if she comes with him.
• Major Themes in “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”: Beauty , hope, and nature are the major themes in the poem. The poet expresses his true love for his significant other. The love, which he describes, offers merriment, joys, and excitement. The choice of words, however, suggests that he hopes to spend his entire life with his beloved in the lap of nature.

Analysis of Literary Devices in “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”

literary devices are tools that enable the writers to enhance their simple texts to bring richness and uniqueness in the texts and open multiple interpretations. Christopher Marlowe has also used some literary elements in this poem. The analysis of a few literary devices used in this poem has been analyzed below.

• Enjambment : Enjambment refers to the continuation of a line or a verse without the pause in a couplet or stanza . For Example,

“By shallow Rivers to whose falls Melodious birds sing Madrigals.”

• Assonance : Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line such as the sound of /a/ in “With Coral clasps and Amber studs”.
• Symbolism : Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings different from literal meanings. “Roses” are symbols of love, beauty , and desire. The country referred by the shepherd symbolizes the peace, tranquility and never-ending hope.
• Alliteration : Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line such as the sound of /p/ in “And we will all the pleasures prove” and the sound of /sh/ and /s/ in “The Shepherds’ Swains shall dance and sing.”
• Imagery : Imagery is used to make the readers perceive things involving their five senses. For example, “That Valleys, groves, hills, and fields”; “A gown made of the finest wool” and “A belt of straw and Ivy buds.”
• Metaphor : It is a figure of speech when comparing between different objects. For example, in the eighth line, “Melodious birds sing Madrigals” the speaker compares songs of the birds to poems that are set to music.
• Hyperbole : Hyperbole is a device used to exaggerate a statement for the sake of emphasis. The poet has used hyperbole in lines nine and ten to show how far he can go for his love. For example,

“And I will make thee beds of Roses And a thousand fragrant posies.”

Analysis of Poetic Devices in “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”

Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is the analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.

• Stanza : A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. There are six stanzas in this poem, each having four lines in it.
• Quatrain : A quatrain is a four-lined stanza borrowed from Persian poetry.
• Feminine Rhyme : It is a type of rhyme in which one or more unstressed syllables follow the stressed syllables. The examples of feminine rhyme are, “love/prove” and “fields/yields.”
• Repetition : There is a repetition of the line, “Come live with me, and be my love” which has created musical quality in the poem.
• Rhyme Scheme : The poem follows the ABAB rhyme scheme .
• Iambic Tetrameter: It is a type of meter having four iambs per line. The poem follows iambic tetrameter such as, “come live with me and be my ”

Quotes to be Used

The lines stated below can be used by anyone to express deep love and pure emotions for each other.

“Come live with me and be my love, And we will all the pleasures prove, That Valleys, groves, hills, and fields, Woods, or steepy mountain yields.”

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Metaphors for Love

ThoughtCo / Bailey Mariner

• An Introduction to Punctuation
• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

In literature, music, and popular culture, love is often used as a metaphor , a  trope  or  figure of speech  in which an implied comparison is made between two unlike things that actually have something in common. For example, when Neil Young sings, "Love is a rose," the word "rose" is the vehicle for the term "love," the tenor.

Or as Milan Kundera wrote in "The Unbearable Lightness of Being,"

"I have said before that metaphors are dangerous. Love begins with a metaphor."

He might have added that love sometimes ends with a metaphor as well. Like the experience of love itself, metaphors make connections. So it's no surprise that love has been imagined, examined, and remembered through a wide variety of figurative comparisons, as the quotes below show.

Love as a Fruit or Plant

As the collection of passages in this and the below sections demonstrate, love has been compared to everything from a plant to a truck. The metaphors in this collection are anything but conventional.

"Love is a fruit, in season at all times and within the reach of every hand. Anyone may gather it and no limit is set." – Mother Teresa, "No Greater Love"

"I look at you and wham, I'm head over heels. I guess that love is a banana peel. I feel so bad and yet I'm feeling so well. I slipped, I stumbled, I fell" – Ben Weisman and Fred Wise, "I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell," sung by Elvis Presley in the film "Wild in the Country"

"Love is a spice with many tastes—a dizzying array of textures and moments." – Wayne Knight as Newman in the final episode of "Seinfeld"

"Now that you're gone I can see That love is a garden if you let it go. It fades away before you know, And love is a garden—it needs help to grow. – Jewel and Shaye Smith, "Love Is a Garden"

"Love is a plant of the most tender kind, That shrinks and shakes with every ruffling wind" – George Granville, "The British Enchanters"

As a Phenomenon of Nature

Washington Irving  compared love to "the rosy cloud in the morning of life," but many others have likened love to various phenomena of nature from lightning to stars and fire, as the quotes in this section demonstrate.

"Oh, love is a journey with water and stars, with drowning air and storms of flour; love is a clash of lightnings, two bodies subdued by one honey." – Pablo Neruda, "Sonnet 12"

"[Love] is an ever-fixed mark That looks on tempests and is never shaken; It is the star to every wandering bark, Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken." – William Shakespeare, "Sonnet 116"

"Love is a fire. It burns everyone. It disfigures everyone. It is the world's excuse for being ugly." – Leonard Cohen, "The Energy of Slaves"

"Love's fire, if it once goes out, is hard to kindle." – German proverb

Kurt Vonnegut ' called love "a hawk with velvet claws," but many singers, writers, authors, and figures in popular culture have compared love to various animals, including dogs, birds, and even a crocodile.

"Love is a dog from hell." – Charles Bukowski, "Love Is a Dog From Hell"

"Love's wing moults when caged and captured, Only free he soars enraptured." – Thomas Campbell, "Love's Philosophy"

Love is a crocodile in the river of desire. – Bhartṛhari, "Śatakatraya"

"Happiness is the china shop; love is the bull." – H.L. Mencken, "A Little Book in C Major"

And Even a Disease

Love has been compared to many things, but surprisingly, some have likened it to a disease, as the eclectic mix of quotes shows in this final section.

"They say it is better to travel than to arrive. It's not been my experience, at least. The journey of love has been rather a lacerating, if well-worth-it, journey." – D.H. Lawrence, "Fantasia of the Unconscious"

"Love is a truck and an open road, Somewhere to start and a place to go." – Mojave 3, "Truck Driving Man"

"They say love is a two-way street. But I don't believe it, because the one I've been on for the last two years was a dirt road." – Terry McMillan, "Waiting to Exhale"

"Love is the master key that unlocks the gates of happiness, of hatred, of jealousy, and most easily of all, the gate of fear ." – Oliver Wendell Holmes, "A Moral Antipathy"

"Love is a beggar, most importunate, Uncalled he comes and makes his dear demands" – Corinne Roosevelt Robinson, "Love Is a Beggar"

"I thought love would be my cure But now it's my disease." – Alicia Keyes, "Love Is My Disease"

"Is it natural for a man to fall in love? Love is a disease and disease knows no laws. – Ivan Turgenev, "Diary of a Superfluous Man"

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Latest Post

Composing a good essay about love with figures of speech.

Love can be a dangerous thing. Whether someone is falling in love or just breaking up, it can be a challenging experience. Writing about love can be even more difficult because putting these feelings into words is never a simple task. In some high school and college English classes, students are required to write essays about love. These papers may be designed to describe what love is, how the student experienced love in their love or similar topics. When writing, students may need to use figures of speech to show their point of view.

Using Metaphors

One of the reason why love metaphors are so useful is because they convey the feeling of being in or out of love. Most people have heard of these metaphors before, so they understand what the student is trying to explain instantly. These metaphors may common from common sayings, great works of literature or poetry. Whatever the case, they help to illustrate the student's story in more vivid, understandable detail.

Choose Carefully

When using figures of speech, students should make sure that they choose the right ones. A figure of speech can show the cynicism or despair of losing a partner or the extreme ecstasy of falling in love for the first time. Whatever the student wants to show in their essay, they have to make sure that they have chosen the right saying.

Create an Outline

Like any good essay, a paper on love should always start with an outline. Using an outline, the student can guide their writing and develop a strong argument. The student should begin by making an introduction and a conclusion. Once these portions of the paper have been written, the student can write out a topic sentence for each paragraph. These topic sentences are designed to guide the argument from the start to the end. Underneath each topic sentence, the student should include two or three pieces of research to support their viewpoint. If the student is writing a literary paper or something similar, figures of speech can be used to show how love is perceive in literature or society at large.

Consider the History

Before using a specific quote, students should consider the story behind. For example, a love quote from Casanova could only be understood through is years of philandering and spying. Meanwhile, a figure of speech created by Queen Elizabeth I would be viewed through her many years of being single and life as the “Virgin Queen”. By considering the history, students can add rich details and depth to their writing.

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Figurative Language – Definition and Examples

3-minute read

• 13th April 2023

In this article, you’ll learn about figurative language: what it is, how to use it, and lots of examples to inspire your everyday speech and descriptive writing .

What is Figurative Language?

Figurative language is language that uses words or expressions with a meaning that is different from the literal interpretation. It is often used to create imagery, evoke emotion, or emphasize a point in a way that literal language cannot. Think of it as painting a picture with words in the minds of your audience – for example, “She was as light as a feather while dancing.”

5 Types of Figurative Language

Below, we’ll look at five types of figurative language – metaphor, idiom, simile, hyperbole, and personification – that you can use in an essay, poem , speech, or conversation.

A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two things by stating that one thing is another, without using “like” or “as.” Metaphors are used to create imagery, evoke emotions, and help readers or listeners to understand an idea or concept in a new and interesting way.

Here are some examples of metaphors:

An idiom is a phrase or expression that has a figurative meaning that is different from the literal meaning of the words. Idioms are often used in informal or conversational language to add color or humor.

Here are some examples of idioms:

If you want to include idioms in your everyday speech or writing, make sure you fully understand the figurative meaning before using them. If used incorrectly, they can cause confusion for your audience.

A simile is a figure of speech that compares two things using “like” or “as.” They are a great writing technique to create vivid imagery and a memorable comparison.

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Here are some examples of similes:

Hyperbole is a figure of speech that involves exaggeration for emphasis or effect. It is mostly used to emphasize a point in a funny or memorable way. Hyperbole is great to use in everyday language or writing, but it’s important to use it in moderation – otherwise, it can come across as insincere or unbelievable.

Here are some examples of hyperbole:

Personification

Personification is a figure of speech in which an inanimate object or animal is given human-like qualities or characteristics. This technique is mostly used in poetry or descriptive writing to create vivid imagery.

Here are some examples of personification:

Figurative language is a great addition to your everyday speech and is frequently used in literature and poetry. It can add depth and richness to language, making it more interesting and expressive. However, it can also be confusing if the reader or listener does not understand the intended meaning of the figurative language. Therefore, it is important to have a basic understanding of figurative language in order to fully appreciate and understand written and spoken communication.

Interested in learning more about how use descriptive language and vivid imagery? Check out our Writing Tips blog to learn more.

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Figure of Speech

Figure of Speech Definition

What is a figure of speech? Here’s a quick and simple definition:

A figure of speech is a literary device in which language is used in an unusual—or "figured"—way in order to produce a stylistic effect. Figures of speech can be broken into two main groups: figures of speech that play with the ordinary meaning of words (such as metaphor , simile , and hyperbole ), and figures of speech that play with the ordinary arrangement or pattern in which words are written (such as alliteration , ellipsis , and antithesis ).

Some additional key details about figures of speech:

• The ancient Greeks and Romans exhaustively listed, defined, and categorized figures of speech in order to better understand how to effectively use language. The names of most figures of speech derive from the original Greek or Latin.
• Figures of speech that play with the literal meaning of words are called tropes , while figures of speech that play with the order or pattern of words are called schemes .
• Figures of speech can take many forms. A figure of speech can involve a single word, a phrase, an omission of a word or phrase, a repetition of words or sounds, or specific sentence structures.

Figure of Speech Pronunciation

Here's how to pronounce figure of speech: fig -yer of speech

Figures of Speech vs. Figurative Language

There's a lot of confusion about the difference between the terms "figures of speech" and " figurative language ." Most of the confusion stems from the fact that different people often use "figurative language" to mean slightly different things. The two most common (and most acceptable) definitions of figurative language are:

• Figurative language refers to any language that contains figures of speech. According to this definition, figurative language and figures of speech are not quite the same thing, but it's pretty darn close. The only difference is that figures of speech refer to each specific type of a figure of speech, while figurative language refers more generally to any language that contains any kind of figures of speech.
• Figurative language refers to words or expressions that have non-literal meanings : This definition associates figurative language only with the category of figures of speech called tropes (which are figures of speech that play with the literal meaning of words). So according to this definition, figurative language would be any language that contains tropes, but not language that contains the figures of speech called schemes.

You might encounter people using figurative speech to mean either of the above, and it's not really possible to say which is correct. But if you know about these two different ways of relating figurative language and figures of speech, you'll be in pretty good shape.

Figures of Speech, Tropes, and Schemes

The oldest and still most common way to organize figures of speech is to split them into two main groups: tropes and schemes.

• Tropes are figures of speech that involve a deviation from the expected and literal meaning of words.
• Schemes are figures of speech that involve a deviation from the typical mechanics of a sentence, such as the order, pattern, or arrangement of words.

The scheme/trope classification system is by no means the only way to organize figures of speech (if you're interested, you can find all sorts of different categorization methods for figures of speech here ). But it is the most common method, and is both simple and structured enough to help you understand figures of speech.

Generally, a trope uses comparison, association, or wordplay to play with the literal meaning of words or to layer another meaning on top of a word's literal meaning. Some of the most commonly used tropes are explained briefly below, though you can get even more detail on each from its specific LitCharts entry.

• Metaphor : A metaphor is a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unrelated things by stating that one thing is another thing, even though this isn't literally true. For example, if someone says "it's raining cats and dogs," this obviously doesn't literally mean what it says—it's a metaphor that makes a comparison between the weight of "cats and dogs" and heavy rain. Metaphors are tropes because their effect relies not on the mechanics of the sentence, but rather on the association created by the use of the phrase "cats and dogs" in a non-literal manner.
• Simile : A simile, like a metaphor, makes a comparison between two unrelated things. However, instead of stating that one thing is another thing (as in metaphor), a simile states that one thing is like another thing. To stick with cats and dogs, an example of a simile would be to say "they fought like cats and dogs."
• Oxymoron : An oxymoron pairs contradictory words in order to express new or complex meanings. In the phrase "parting is such sweet sorrow" from Romeo and Juliet , "sweet sorrow" is an oxymoron that captures the complex and simultaneous feelings of pain and pleasure associated with passionate love. Oxymorons are tropes because their effect comes from a combination of the two words that goes beyond the literal meanings of those words.
• Hyperbole : A hyperbole is an intentional exaggeration of the truth, used to emphasize the importance of something or to create a comic effect. An example of a hyperbole is to say that a backpack "weighs a ton." No backpack literally weighs a ton, but to say "my backpack weighs ten pounds" doesn't effectively communicate how burdensome a heavy backpack feels. Once again, this is a trope because its effect comes from understanding that the words mean something different from what they literally say.

Other Common Tropes

• Antanaclasis
• Onomatopoeia
• Personification
• Periphrasis
• Rhetorical Question

Schemes are mechanical—they're figures of speech that tinker with words, sounds, and structures (as opposed to meanings) in order to achieve an effect. Schemes can themselves be broken down in helpful ways that define the sort of tinkering they employ.

• Repetition: Repeating words, phrases, or even sounds in a particular way.
• Omission: Leaving out certain words or punctuation that would normally be expected.
• Changes of word order: Shifting around words or phrases in atypical ways.
• Balance: Creating sentences or phrases with equal parts, often through the use of identical grammatical structures.

Some of the most commonly used schemes are explained briefly below, though you can get even more detail on each from its specific LitCharts entry.

• Alliteration : In alliteration, the same sound repeats in a group of words, such as the “b” sound in: “ B ob b rought the b ox of b ricks to the b asement.” Alliteration uses repetition to create a musical effect that helps phrases to stand out from the language around them.
• Assonance : A scheme in which vowel sounds repeat in nearby words, such as the "ee" sound in the proverb: "the squ ea ky wh ee l gets the gr ea se." Like alliteration, assonance uses repeated sounds to create a musical effect in which words echo one another—it's a scheme because this effect is achieved through repetition of words with certain sounds, not by playing with the meaning of words.
• Ellipsis : The deliberate omission of one or more words from a sentence because their meaning is already implied. In the example, "Should I call you, or you me?" the second clause uses ellipsis. While its implication is "or should you call me," the context of the sentence allows for the omission of "should" and "call." Ellipsis is a scheme because it involves an uncommon usage of language.
• Parallelism : The repetition of sentence structure for emphasis and balance. This can occur in a single sentence, such as "a penny saved is a penny earned," and it can also occur over the course of a speech, poem, or other text. Parallelism is a scheme because it creates emphasis through the mechanics of sentence structure, rather than by playing with the actual meanings of words.

Other Common Schemes

• Anadiplosis
• Antimetabole
• Brachylogia
• Epanalepsis
• Parenthesis
• Polysyndeton

Figure of Speech Examples

Figures of speech can make language more inventive, more beautiful, more rhythmic, more memorable, and more meaningful. It shouldn't be a surprise, then, that figures of speech are plentiful in all sorts of written language. The examples below show a variety of different types of figures of speech. You can see many more examples of each type at their own specific LitChart entries.

Figures of Speech Examples in Literature

Literature is riddled with figures of speech because figures of speech make language colorful and complex.

Metaphor in Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca

On and on, now east now west, wound the poor thread that once had been our drive. Sometimes I thought it lost, but it appeared again, beneath a fallen tree perhaps, or struggling on the other side of a muddied ditch created by the winter rains.

In this quote from Rebecca , Daphne du Maurier refers to a washed-out road as "the poor thread." This is a metaphor —and a trope—because the writer indirectly compares the thread to the road and expects that readers will understand that "thread" is not used literally.

Parallelism in Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.

In the famous opening line of A Tale of Two Cities , Dickens uses parallelism —a scheme in which parts of a sentence repeat—in order to emphasize the contradictions of the time in which the book is set. Dickens has manipulated his sentence structure so that the parallel clauses emphasize the oppositional nature of his words ("it was the best of times, it was the worst of times"). The figure of speech doesn't play with the meaning of words, it emphasizes them through structure and repetition, which is why it is a scheme.

Alliteration in Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Birthmark"

In this manner, s electing it as the s ymbol of his wife's liability to s in, s orrow, d ecay, and d eath, Aylmer's s ombre imagination was not long in rendering the birthmark a frightful object, causing him more trouble and horror than ever Georgiana's beauty, whether of s oul or s ense, had given him delight.

This passage from " The Birthmark " uses alliteration to tie together all of the things that Georgiana's birthmark is supposed to symbolize. By using words that alliterate—"sin and sorrow" and "decay and death," for example—Hawthorne is making the reader feel that these ideas are connected, rather than simply stating that they are connected. Alliteration is a figure of speech—a scheme—because it uses the mechanics of language to emphasize meaning.

Verbal Irony in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar

For Brutus is an honorable man; So are they all, all honorable men,

This quote from Julius Caesar comes from Marc Antony's speech at Caesar's funeral. Antony needs to hold Brutus and his conspirators accountable for Caesar's death without contradicting the crowd's positive impression of Brutus, so Antony uses verbal irony to simultaneously please and trouble the crowd. On the surface, Antony says what the audience wants to hear (that Brutus is honorable), but it becomes clear over the course of his speech that he means the opposite of what he says (and over time he convinces the audience to believe this opposite meaning as well). This is a figure of speech (a trope) because it's based on a play on the meaning of Antony's words.

Figures of Speech Examples in Music

Figures of speech are also common in music. Schemes fit naturally with songs because both schemes and songs manipulate sound and rhythm to enhance the meanings of words. Music also uses many tropes, because using words that have meanings beyond their literal ones makes language more interesting, and it allows songwriters to create music that uses just a few words to imply a complex meaning.

Assonance and Metaphor in Rihanna's "Diamonds"

So sh ine br igh t ton igh t, you and I We're beautiful l i ke d i amonds in the sk y Eye to eye , so al i ve We're beautiful l i ke d i amonds in the sk y

Rihanna uses assonance when she repeats the " eye " sound throughout the chorus of "Diamonds." This make the words echo one another, which emphasizes the similarity between the singer, the person she's talking about, and the "diamonds in the sky" to which she's comparing them both. Assonance is a scheme because it's using the sound of words—not their meaning—to draw a parallel between different things.

Rihanna also uses the phrase "Diamonds in the sky" as a metaphor for stars. This is a trope—a phrase that means something other than what it literally says—as Rihanna obviously doesn't think that there are actually diamonds in the sky. This verse is a good example of how figures of speech can often work together and overlap. In this case, the metaphor that allows her to use "diamonds" instead of "stars" also fits into her use of assonance (because "stars" lacks the "eye" sound).

Personification in Green Day's "Good Riddance"

Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go

While the first line of this song uses "a fork stuck in the road" as a metaphor for a choice, the more arresting figure of speech at work here is the personification of time in the second line. By giving "time" human characteristics—the ability to grab a person and tell them where to go—Green Day is helping listeners to make sense of the power that time has over people. This is a trope because the line doesn't mean what it literally says; instead, it's asking listeners to make a comparison between the characteristics of time and the characteristics of a person.

Anastrophe in Public Enemy's "Fight the Power"

Straight up racist that sucker was Simple and plain

In the line "Straight up racist that sucker was," Public Enemy uses anastrophe (which is the inversion of typical word order) to preserve the rhythm of the verse. Instead of saying "That sucker was straight up racist," Public Enemy chooses an odd phrasing that has one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables— " ra cist that su cker was/ Sim ple and plain ." This way, the beat falls more regularly across those two lines, which allows the rapper to make his point (that Elvis was racist) without the flow sounding awkward. Since anastrophe manipulates the order of words in order to achieve a rhythmic effect, it's a scheme.

Why Do Writers Use Figures of Speech?

Figures of speech is a category that encompasses a broad variety of literary terms, so it's difficult to give one answer to this question. Writers use different figures of speech to achieve different effects.

Schemes (figures of speech that manipulate sound, syntax, and word order) can make language more beautiful, persuasive, or memorable. Writers can use schemes to draw attention to an important passage, to create a sound that mirrors (or contrasts with) the meaning of words, or to give language a rhythm that draws the reader in. As schemes tend to work through sound and rhythm, they generally produce a visceral effect, or an effect felt in the body—broadly speaking, schemes are more sensory than intellectual.

In contrast, writers use tropes to grab the reader intellectually by adding complexity or ambiguity to an otherwise simple word or phrase. Tropes can ask the reader to make a comparison between two unlike things, they can impose human qualities on nonhumans, and they can mean the opposite of what they say. Tropes engage the intellect because the reader has to be alert to the fact that tropes do not use language at face value—a trope never means what it literally says.

All figures of speech help a writer to communicate ideas that are difficult to say in words or that are more effectively communicated non-verbally. This could be by repeating harsh consonants to create a scary atmosphere, or by using a metaphor to impose the qualities of something concrete (say, a rose) onto something more difficult to define (say, love). In general, figures of speech attempt to bring out a reader's emotion and to capture their attention by making language more colorful, surprising, and complex.

Other Helpful Figure of Speech Resources

• Silva Rhetoricae on Figures of Speech : An excellent reference from BYU that explains the various ways that figures of speech have been categorized over history, including into schemes and tropes.
• Silva Rhetoricae on schemes and tropes :
• The Oxford Reference Page for Figure of Speech : A helpful definition of figures of speech in the context of the ancient study of rhetoric (did you know that the Roman rhetorician Quintillian defined "figure of speech" in 95 AD?)
• What Are Tropes in Language? Skip to the "Distinction Between Figures and Tropes" section and read to the end—full of informative and thought-provoking discussion about tropes.
• A YouTube video about tropes and schemes with pop culture examples.

• PDFs for all 136 Lit Terms we cover
• Downloads of 1890 LitCharts Lit Guides
• Teacher Editions for every Lit Guide
• Explanations and citation info for 39,844 quotes across 1890 books
• Downloadable (PDF) line-by-line translations of every Shakespeare play
• Alliteration
• Climax (Figure of Speech)
• Figurative Language
• Parallelism
• Verbal Irony
• External Conflict
• Juxtaposition
• Slant Rhyme
• Rising Action
• End-Stopped Line

figure of speech

What is a figure of speech definition, usage, and literary examples, figure of speech definition.

Figures of speech  (FIG-yurs of SPEEchuh) are words or phrases used in a non-literal sense for  rhetorical  effect. They are often constructed using literary devices such as  metaphor ,  simile ,  alliteration , metonymy, synecdoche, and personification. Figures of speech allow writers to apply familiar ideas and  imagery  to less familiar concepts, and they are widespread in written and spoken language.

Figure of Speech Categories

Figures of speech fall into two broad categories: tropes and scheme. These are  dozens of figures of speech  that fall into each category, so the following are a select few examples.

These are figures of speech that play with syntax, sound, and words. They often achieve their effects by utilizing repetition of words, phrases, or sounds; omission of words or punctuation; unexpected changes in word order; or paired identical grammatical structures.

• Alliteration : Repeating consonant sounds in a series of words
• Diacope: Repeating words or phrases, interrupted by one or two other words
• Homonyms: Identical words that have different meanings
• Sibilance: Repeating hissing sounds
• Asyndeton: Omitting conjunctions between related series of clauses
• Brachylogia: Omitting conjunctions between individual words
• Ellipsis: Omitting words without losing  context  or understanding
• Syncope: Omitting word or phrase parts

Changes in Word Order

• Anastrophe: Rearranging the subject, object and verb order in a phrase
• Apposition: Two phrases, often separated by commas, where the second defines the first
• Parenthesis: A rhetorical, qualifying phrase inserted into a sentence or passage
• Spoonerism: Switching syllables between two words

Paired Grammatical Structures

• Antithesis : Juxtaposing ideas
• Isocolon: Consecutive phrases of identical length in words or syllables
• Parallelism: Similar grammatical structure between two or more clauses
• Tricolon: Three consecutive phrases of identical length in words or syllables

These are figures of speech that deviate in some way from the literal meanings of words. They tend to include association or comparison to shift readers’ perceptions from words’ true definitions to a layered figurative meaning. They can be broken into five categories: reference, word play/puns, substitutions, overstatement/understatement, and inversion.

• Allegory : A narrative that is an indirect metaphor for a broader, real-world concept
• Allusion : An intertextual reference to another creative work
• Metaphor : A direct comparison between two unrelated things
• Personification: Attributing human characteristics to non-human entities

Word Play/Puns

• Innuendo: A phrase or  sentence  with a hidden (often salacious) meaning
• Malapropism: Confusing a word with a similar sounding one
• Paraprosdokian : An unexpected ending to a phrase
• Pun : Word play that makes use of a word’s multiple meanings

Substitutions

• Dysphemism: Using a harsh word or phrase to replace a gentler one
• Euphemism : Using a more agreeable word or phrase to replace an offensive one
• Metonymy: Replacing a word or term with something associated with it
• Synecdoche: Referring to a whole by its part(s) or vice versa

Overstatement/Understatement

• Grandiloquence: Speech that is pompous or grandiose
• Hyperbole : An emphatic exaggeration
• Litotes : Emphasizing a statement by negating its opposite
• Satire: Criticism of society through humorous means
• Irony : Conveying the opposite of a word’s literal meaning
• Oxymoron : Using contradictory words together
• Paradox: Using contradictory ideas to make a point
• Synesthesia: Using sensory-specific words to describe a different sense

Most Common Figures of Speech

The following are some of the most common figures of speech that appear in literature and other written forms.

• Alliteration :  This is a scheme that uses repetition of the same first consonant sound to create a musical effect. “Francine found France quite lovely” is an example of alliteration because of the repeating  f  sound in the words  Francine ,  found , and  France .
• Apostrophe:  With apostrophe, a speaker directly addresses an inanimate object, an abstract concept, or a person who is either imaginary or not present. John Donne use apostrophe in his poem “ Holy Sonnet: Death, be not proud ,” wherein he speaks directly to a personified idea of death.
• Chiasmus:  This is a scheme where the second half of an expression is balanced against the first half in a reversed order. “You should eat to live, not live to eat” is one example; it repeats the words  eat  and  live  but reverses the order the second time they occur.
• Euphemism:  This literary device takes a mild or indirect word or expression and replaces something harsh, unpleasant, or offensive with it. Saying someone  passed on  is a euphemism for  died ;  powder my nose  is a euphemism for  go to the bathroom .
• Hyperbole:  This is the use of exaggeration for emphasis or heightened effect. “If I don’t nap right now, I will die” is a hyperbolic statement; it conveys the experience of feeling tired, but readers understand the speaker won’t literally die.
• Irony:  This literary device occurs when words are used to convey the opposite of their meaning or when a situation seems directly contrary to what is expected. Famously, Alanis Morissette’s song “Ironic” lists many situations she deems ironic when they aren’t ironic at all; thus, irony.
• Litotes:  This figure of speech refers to a type of understatement. It is used to negate a statement in a way that actually affirms it. For example, saying “That’s no small chunk of change” indicates that the sum in question is, in fact, large.
• Metaphor :  A form of trope, metaphors make an implicit comparison between two unrelated things. “Love is a battlefield” is metaphoric, as it implies the experience of being in love is the same as being on a battlefield.
• Onomatopoeia :  Words that are onomatopoeic evoke the sounds of the thing they are referring to.  Hiss ,  crash , and  tick tock  are all examples because they sound like what they are describing—the sound of a snake, thunder, and a clock, respectively.
• Oxymoron:  This literary device consists of contradictory words paired together. Although the words initially appear to negate each other, they make sense when joined.  Deafening silence  is an oxymoronic pair; the adjective  deafening  means “a volume so high that nothing can be heard over it,” and the noun  silence  means “without sound.” These words are incongruous, but together they mean an overbearing, noticeable absence of sound.
• Personification:  When greater qualities of animation are given to a non-human or inanimate object, that is personification. In T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” fog is described as “The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes/The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes.” Here, Eliot is personifying the fog by giving it the attributes of a cat.
• Pun :  This is a humorous play on words, often using homonyms, homographs, or homophones. For example, “I’ve been to the dentist many times, so I know the drill” is a pun; it plays with the double meaning of the word  drill  as a tool of the dentistry trade and as a concept of something being routine.
• Simile :  Related to metaphors, similes are explicit comparisons made using the words  like  or  as . “Lucille’s dress was as red as a fire truck” makes an explicit comparison between the color of the dress and the color of a fire truck. This allows the reader to properly visualize what Lucille is wearing.
• Synecdoche:  This is a figure of speech wherein a part of something stands in for the whole thing. “All hands on deck” is a synecdoche because  hands  stands in for the whole crew of a ship.”

Figure of Speech and Figurative Language

People often use the terms  figurative language  and  figure of speech  interchangeably; however, they are not the same. Instead, figurative language is a broad category that contains figures of speech, as well as  imagery  and  sound devices .

Imagery adds additional aesthetic resonance to texts through the evocation of sensory details. Sound devices enhance the text through sonic means. These elements, in conjunction with figures of speech, give a deeper meaning to the language a writer uses in their work.

Why Figures of Speech Are Used

These literary devices emphasize, embellish, or clarify written or spoken language. They allow an audience to understand ideas through implied or suggested meaning, thus giving the language a more surprising, creative, and playful effect. Some figures of speech enhance imagery, while others allow writers to employ rich cultural traditions to express their ideas. Even further, other figures of speech allow writers to experiment with structure and sound to create specific effects. No matter which type is used, the expressive quality of figures of speech helps keep audiences engaged.

Examples of Figures of Speech in Literature

1. Hafizah Geter, “ Testimony ”

Geter begins her  poem :

Mr. President,

After they shot me they tackled my sister.

the sound of her knees hitting the sidewalk

made my stomach ache. It was a bad pain.

The poem is a  dramatic monologue  spoken by Tamir Rice, a 12-year old black child who was killed by police officers who mistook his toy gun for a real one. This poem uses apostrophe as the speaker, Tamir, talks directly to “Mr. President” (then president Barack Obama).

2. William Shakespeare,   Macbeth

In Act III, Scene iii., of this play, before King Duncan’s murder is discovered, Lennox and Macbeth converse:

LENNOX: The night has been unruly: where we lay,

Our chimneys were blown down: and, as they say,

Lamentings heard i’the air; strange screams of death,

And prophesying with accents terrible

Of fire combustion and confused events

New hatch’d to the woeful time: the obscure bird

Clamour’d the livelong night: some say, the earth

Was feverous and did shake.

MACBETH: ‘Twas a rough night.

LENNOX: My young remembrance cannot parallel

A fellow to it.

Pathetic fallacy is a type of trope. It occurs when human feelings and attributes are ascribed to nature. This figure of speech is used throughout this  Shakespearean  tragedy. In this particular scene, Lennox describes how terrible and strange the weather was on the evening of the murder. The way the wind and earth seem to embody the horror of King Duncan’s death is pathetic fallacy.

3. Karl Marx,   Das Kapital

In Part I (“Commodities and Money”) of Marx’s treatise on economics, philosophy, history, and political science, he claims:

In the pre-capitalist stages of society, commerce rules industry. In capitalist society, industry rules commerce.

These two sentences are an example of chiasmus. Here, “commerce” first rules “industry,” and then “industry” rules “commerce.” By reversing the order of these words/concepts, Marx employs chiasmus.

4. Toni Morrison,  Sula

The last line of Morrison’s novel is considered by some to be one of the best lines in fiction and nonfiction. The sentence describes protagonist Nel’s grief at the death of her childhood friend Sula:

It was a fine cry—loud and long—but it had no bottom and it had no top, just circles and circles of sorrow.

This sentence is rich in alliteration: “loud and long” contain  L  sounds at the beginning, as well as the repetition of  c  and  s  sounds with  cry ,  circles ,  circles , and  sorrow . The latter is also an example of sibilance.

5. Oscar Wilde,   The Importance of Being Earnest

In Wilde’s play, the main characters John Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff pose as men named Ernest, only for Jack to learn that his given name really is Ernest. He delivers the final line of the play:

On the contrary, Aunt Augusta, I’ve now realized for the first time in my life the vital importance of being Earnest.

Jack/Ernest’s declaration is a homographic pun. It means both that he understands the importance of being Ernest (his real name), as well as the importance of being  earnest  (sincere).

6. Aimee Nezhukumatathil, “ On Listening to Your Teacher Take Attendance ”

In this poem, Nezhukumatathil describes the experience of one’s name being mispronounced by a teacher taking attendance:

everyone turns around to check out

your face, no need to flush red and warm.

Just picture all the eyes as if your classroom

is one big scallop with its dozens of icy blues

and you will remember that winter your family

took you to the China see and you sank

your face in it to gaze at baby clams and sea stars

She uses a simile, “Just picture all the eyes as if your classroom/is one big scallop with its dozens of icy blues,” to explicitly compare the staring kids to the dozens of eyes that a sea scallop has.

Further Resources on Figure of Speech

Thought Catalog has a wonderful list of  figures of speech used by Homer Simpson  in  The Simpsons.

Jamcampus published a  great list  of twenty examples of metaphors in popular songs.

This is an entertaining round up of  oxymorons .

SuperSummary's library of resources and content , such as " A Beginner's Guide to Literary Analysis " and " How to Write a Summary ."

Related Terms

• Figurative language

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Writing About Poetry

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This section covers the basics of how to write about poetry, including why it is done, what you should know, and what you can write about.

Writing about poetry can be one of the most demanding tasks that many students face in a literature class. Poetry, by its very nature, makes demands on a writer who attempts to analyze it that other forms of literature do not. So how can you write a clear, confident, well-supported essay about poetry? This handout offers answers to some common questions about writing about poetry.

What's the Point?

In order to write effectively about poetry, one needs a clear idea of what the point of writing about poetry is. When you are assigned an analytical essay about a poem in an English class, the goal of the assignment is usually to argue a specific thesis about the poem, using your analysis of specific elements in the poem and how those elements relate to each other to support your thesis.

So why would your teacher give you such an assignment? What are the benefits of learning to write analytic essays about poetry? Several important reasons suggest themselves:

• To help you learn to make a text-based argument. That is, to help you to defend ideas based on a text that is available to you and other readers. This sharpens your reasoning skills by forcing you to formulate an interpretation of something someone else has written and to support that interpretation by providing logically valid reasons why someone else who has read the poem should agree with your argument. This isn't a skill that is just important in academics, by the way. Lawyers, politicians, and journalists often find that they need to make use of similar skills.
• To help you to understand what you are reading more fully. Nothing causes a person to make an extra effort to understand difficult material like the task of writing about it. Also, writing has a way of helping you to see things that you may have otherwise missed simply by causing you to think about how to frame your own analysis.
• To help you enjoy poetry more! This may sound unlikely, but one of the real pleasures of poetry is the opportunity to wrestle with the text and co-create meaning with the author. When you put together a well-constructed analysis of the poem, you are not only showing that you understand what is there, you are also contributing to an ongoing conversation about the poem. If your reading is convincing enough, everyone who has read your essay will get a little more out of the poem because of your analysis.

What Should I Know about Writing about Poetry?

Most importantly, you should realize that a paper that you write about a poem or poems is an argument. Make sure that you have something specific that you want to say about the poem that you are discussing. This specific argument that you want to make about the poem will be your thesis. You will support this thesis by drawing examples and evidence from the poem itself. In order to make a credible argument about the poem, you will want to analyze how the poem works—what genre the poem fits into, what its themes are, and what poetic techniques and figures of speech are used.

What Can I Write About?

Theme: One place to start when writing about poetry is to look at any significant themes that emerge in the poetry. Does the poetry deal with themes related to love, death, war, or peace? What other themes show up in the poem? Are there particular historical events that are mentioned in the poem? What are the most important concepts that are addressed in the poem?

Genre: What kind of poem are you looking at? Is it an epic (a long poem on a heroic subject)? Is it a sonnet (a brief poem, usually consisting of fourteen lines)? Is it an ode? A satire? An elegy? A lyric? Does it fit into a specific literary movement such as Modernism, Romanticism, Neoclassicism, or Renaissance poetry? This is another place where you may need to do some research in an introductory poetry text or encyclopedia to find out what distinguishes specific genres and movements.

Versification: Look closely at the poem's rhyme and meter. Is there an identifiable rhyme scheme? Is there a set number of syllables in each line? The most common meter for poetry in English is iambic pentameter, which has five feet of two syllables each (thus the name "pentameter") in each of which the strongly stressed syllable follows the unstressed syllable. You can learn more about rhyme and meter by consulting our handout on sound and meter in poetry or the introduction to a standard textbook for poetry such as the Norton Anthology of Poetry . Also relevant to this category of concerns are techniques such as caesura (a pause in the middle of a line) and enjambment (continuing a grammatical sentence or clause from one line to the next). Is there anything that you can tell about the poem from the choices that the author has made in this area? For more information about important literary terms, see our handout on the subject.

Figures of speech: Are there literary devices being used that affect how you read the poem? Here are some examples of commonly discussed figures of speech:

• metaphor: comparison between two unlike things
• simile: comparison between two unlike things using "like" or "as"
• metonymy: one thing stands for something else that is closely related to it (For example, using the phrase "the crown" to refer to the king would be an example of metonymy.)
• synecdoche: a part stands in for a whole (For example, in the phrase "all hands on deck," "hands" stands in for the people in the ship's crew.)
• personification: a non-human thing is endowed with human characteristics
• litotes: a double negative is used for poetic effect (example: not unlike, not displeased)
• irony: a difference between the surface meaning of the words and the implications that may be drawn from them

Cultural Context: How does the poem you are looking at relate to the historical context in which it was written? For example, what's the cultural significance of Walt Whitman's famous elegy for Lincoln "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed" in light of post-Civil War cultural trends in the U.S.A? How does John Donne's devotional poetry relate to the contentious religious climate in seventeenth-century England? These questions may take you out of the literature section of your library altogether and involve finding out about philosophy, history, religion, economics, music, or the visual arts.

What Style Should I Use?

It is useful to follow some standard conventions when writing about poetry. First, when you analyze a poem, it is best to use present tense rather than past tense for your verbs. Second, you will want to make use of numerous quotations from the poem and explain their meaning and their significance to your argument. After all, if you do not quote the poem itself when you are making an argument about it, you damage your credibility. If your teacher asks for outside criticism of the poem as well, you should also cite points made by other critics that are relevant to your argument. A third point to remember is that there are various citation formats for citing both the material you get from the poems themselves and the information you get from other critical sources. The most common citation format for writing about poetry is the Modern Language Association (MLA) format .

Important Figures of Speech in English with Examples

Figures of speech are creative and expressive language tools used to add depth, imagery, and emphasis to our written and spoken communication. Understanding and recognizing figures of speech can enhance our language skills and make our expressions more vivid and engaging. In this blog, we will explore some important figures of speech in English, along with easy-to-understand examples, to help you grasp their meanings and usage.

Figures of Speech in English

Figures of speech are powerful linguistic devices that add creativity, imagery, and emphasis to our language. By using figures of speech, we can make our communication more engaging, descriptive, and memorable.

Simile: A simile is a figure of speech that compares two different things using “like” or “as.” It helps to create vivid imagery and make comparisons more relatable. For example: “He’s as strong as an ox” or “Her laughter is like music to my ears.”

Metaphor: Metaphor is another figure of speech that compares two unrelated things without using “like” or “as.” It establishes a direct association between the two, often for the purpose of emphasizing a certain quality or characteristic. For instance: “Time is a thief” or “Love is a battlefield.”

Personification: Personification gives human qualities or attributes to non-human entities or objects. It helps to make descriptions more vivid and relatable. For example: “The trees whispered in the wind” or “The sun smiled down on us.”

Hyperbole: Hyperbole is an exaggerated statement or claim used for emphasis or dramatic effect. It amplifies a situation or description to make a strong impact. For instance: “I’ve told you a million times” or “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.”

Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of the same sound or letter at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words. It creates a rhythmic and melodic effect, making phrases memorable. For example: “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers” or “Sally sells seashells by the seashore.”

Onomatopoeia: Onomatopoeia refers to words that imitate or evoke the sound they describe. It adds a sensory dimension to our language. Examples include “buzz,” “hiss,” “crash,” or “sizzle.”

Oxymoron: An oxymoron combines contradictory terms or ideas to create a unique and often thought-provoking effect. It brings together two opposing concepts to highlight their contrast. For instance: “bittersweet,” “jumbo shrimp,” or “living dead.”

Irony: Irony is a figure of speech that expresses a meaning opposite to the literal interpretation of the words. It often conveys a sense of contradiction or incongruity. For example: “Isn’t it ironic that the fire station burned down?” or “I love waking up early on weekends,” said sarcastically.

Pun: Pun is a play on words, for example “a boiled egg for breakfast is hard to beat.” or “I used to be a baker, but I couldn’t make enough dough.”

Antithesis: This makes a comparison or connection between two ideas in a sentence, for example “that is one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind.” or “Love is blind; hatred is clear-sighted.”

Anaphora: Anaphora is the repetition of a word or phrase for rhythmic effect, for example “I came, I saw, I conquered.” or “Every day, every hour, every minute, I think of you.”

Types of Figures of Speech

Figures of speech are literary devices used to enhance and add depth to our language. They make use of words, phrases, or expressions in a non-literal or imaginative way. Here are some common types of figures of speech:

Simile A simile compares two different things using “like” or “as”.Here are some examples of simile in use.

• “He runs as fast as a cheetah.”
• “She is as brave as a lion.”

Metaphor Metaphor is when there is a comparison made between two different things which share something in common. Here are some examples of metaphor in use.

• “Life is a journey with ups and downs.”
• “Her voice is music to my ears.”

Personification Personification gives human qualities or attributes to non-human entities or objects.Here are some examples of personification in use.

• “The wind whispered through the trees.”
• “The stars danced in the night sky.”

Hyperbole Hyperbole involves exaggeration for emphasis or dramatic effect.Here are some examples of hyperbole in use.

• “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.”
• “He’s told me a million times to clean my room.”

Alliteration Alliteration is the repetition of the same sound or letter at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words. Here are some examples of alliteration in use.

• “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.”
• “Sally sells seashells by the seashore.”

Onomatopoeia Onomatopoeia refers to words that imitate or evoke the sound they describe. Here are some examples of onomatopoeia in use.

• “The bee buzzed around the garden.”
• “The thunder roared in the distance.”

Oxymoron An oxymoron combines contradictory terms or ideas to create a unique and often thought-provoking effect. Here are some examples of oxymoron in use.

• “Bittersweet”
• “Jumbo shrimp”

Irony Irony is a figure of speech that expresses a meaning opposite to the literal interpretation of the words. Here are some examples of irony in use.

• “The fire station burned down.”
• “I love waking up early on weekends,” said sarcastically.

Pun A pun is a play on words that exploits multiple meanings or similar sounds of words for humorous or rhetorical effect. Here are some examples of puns in use.

• “I used to be a baker, but I couldn’t make enough dough.”
• “I’m reading a book about anti-gravity. It’s impossible to put down!”

Euphemism Euphemism involves substituting a mild or indirect expression for a harsh, unpleasant, or sensitive one. Here are some examples of Euphemism in use.

• “He passed away” (instead of “He died”).
• “She’s between jobs” (instead of “She’s unemployed”).

Allusion An allusion is a reference to a well-known person, event, or work of literature. Here are some examples of allusion in use.

• “He’s a real Romeo with the ladies.”
• “She has the Midas touch.”

Hyperbaton Hyperbaton is a figure of speech that involves altering the typical or expected order of words in a sentence or phrase. It is used to create a particular emphasis, add dramatic effect, or enhance the poetic quality of the language. By rearranging the word order, hyperbaton can draw attention to specific words or ideas. Here are a few examples of hyperbaton in use.

• “Swift and nimble was the cat.”
• “With courage and determination, she faced the challenges.”

Anaphora Anaphora is the repetition of a word or phrase for rhythmic effect. Here are some examples of Anaphora in use.

• “I came, I saw, I conquered.”
• “Every day, every hour, every minute, I think of you.”

Epiphora Epiphora, also known as epistrophe, is a rhetorical figure of speech that involves the repetition of a word or phrase at the end of successive clauses or sentences. It is used to create emphasis, reinforce a point, or provide a rhythmic and memorable effect. Epiphora can be found in various forms of communication, including speeches, literature, and poetry. Here are a few examples of epiphora in use.

• “Love is patient, love is kind, love is forgiving.”
• “We will fight for justice, we will fight for equality, we will fight for freedom.”

Synecdoche Synecdoche is a statement in which only part of something is expressed to relate to the whole. Here are some examples of synecdoche in use.

• “The pen is mightier than the sword.”
• “We need more hands on deck.”

Metonymy Metonymy is when a phrase is replaced with another which has a similar meaning, used to describe something in an indirect manner. Here are some examples of metonymy in use.

• “The White House issued a statement.”
• “The crown represents the monarchy.”

Assonance Assonance is the similarity in sound between vowels in the middle of neighbouring words. Here are some examples of assonance in use.

• “Go slow on the road.”
• “The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.”

Consonance Consonance is a figure of speech that involves the repetition of consonant sounds in close proximity, typically within a word or at the end of words. It creates a pleasing and musical effect in the language, adding emphasis, rhythm, and a sense of harmony. Unlike alliteration, which focuses on the initial sounds of words, consonance can occur anywhere within a word or phrase. Here are a few examples of consonance in use.

• “Pitter-patter of raindrops.”
• “She sells seashells by the seashore.”

Litotes Litotes is a figure of speech that uses understatement by negating the opposite to express something positively. Here are some examples of Litotes in use.

• “Not bad” (meaning “good”).
• “She’s not the smartest person in the world” (meaning “she’s intelligent”).

Antithesis Antithesis is applying a juxtaposition of ideas which are contrasting in a statement that is balanced. Here are some examples of antithesis in use.

• “Love is blind; hatred is clear-sighted.”
• “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.”

Figures of speech play a significant role in our language, adding depth, creativity, and emphasis to our expressions. By understanding and using figures of speech like simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, alliteration, onomatopoeia, oxymoron, and irony, we can enhance our communication skills and make our language more vibrant and engaging. Practice incorporating these figures of speech into your writing and conversations, and watch your expressions come alive with vivid imagery and memorable impact.

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18 Figures of speech examples and how to use them.

Do you want to revamp the quality of your spoken english if yes, this blog is a perfect read. there are many ways you can improve your verbal and written english, but the best way is by learning different figures of speech and how to use them. keep scrolling to learn more and see some figures of speech examples too   , table of contents, using figures of speech | overview, what is a figure of speech, uses of figures of speech, 1. personification, 2. metaphor, 4. alliteration, 5. onomatopoeia, 6. hyperbole, 7. euphemism, 9. anaphora, 11. apostrophe, 12. paradox, 13. understatement, 14. metonymy, 15. oxymoron, 16. antithesis, 18. anticlimax, what’s next, key takeaways.

For people who are not native English language speakers, conversing in English regularly may sometimes become a challenge. You may find that you often fumble or speak incorrectly because you can’t find the right words or phrases to express yourself. And in some cases, this can put you in an awkward position. To help you avoid that from happening, we will be exploring 18 different figures of speech examples in this blog. Let’s get started!

A figure of speech is a phrase that has an implied meaning and should not be taken at face value. This means that the real meaning of such a phrase differs from its literal meaning.

Since most figures of speech are used widely in common parlance, native English language speakers are quite familiar with them. However, if you are not a native English speaker, or if you are one and wish to learn more about your language, then you have come to the right place!

While you may find several figures of speech definitions and examples online, it is important that you first understand the need of using these phrases.

• Many figures of speech contain metaphors, idioms, similes, ironies, antithesis, alliterations, personifications, and paradoxes. So, as you learn about these figures of speech, you also start to understand other aspects of the English language.
• Since figures of speech are used not only in spoken English but also in the written word, using them can greatly enhance the overall quality of your English.
• In most cases, you can use these phrases in the form of a witty comeback or simply as a way to demonstrate your eloquence in the language. 

Types of figures of speech

After looking at these phrases, you may be eager to start using figures of speech in your daily conversation . But for that, you also need to know which figure of speech to use in which context.

So let’s get into the details of the 18 types of figures of speech with examples so you know exactly when to use each of them.

This type of figure of speech is constructed by attributing certain human characteristics to otherwise inanimate objects. For example, you may have often heard people saying that the “wind is howling.” Look at these two popular examples to get a better idea-

• Opportunity knocked at his/her door.
• Time flies when you’re having fun.

This type of figure of speech is generally used by talking about two very different kinds of things that have a common link. Hence, the action, feature, or effect of the unrelated thing can be applied to that of the related thing and imply a new meaning. For example- 

• She is the apple of my eye.
• The Sun is a creature of habit.

These phrases are somewhat similar to metaphors but are more direct than implied in their meaning. In similes, the indirectly implied meaning is replaced with the words “as” or “like.” These words are used to make the connection between the two different words being used. For example- 

• His response was as cold as ice.
• After taking his medication, he became fit as a fiddle.

These types of phrases are figures of speech that have a similar sounding consonant (non-vowel letters) at the beginning of each word. You can identify them by checking for these similarities in two to three consecutive words. Some alliteration figure of speech examples are- 

• Claire, close your cluttered closet.
• Go and gather the green leaves on the grass.

These are rather simple yet unique figures of speech. Onomatopoeiae are words or phrases that are similar to the sounds they produce. While they may be an informal and childish way of speaking, these figures of speech can often come in handy when one is trying to be illustrious. Two popular examples are- 

• “Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments will hum about mine ears, and sometimes voices&” (From Shakespeare’s “Tempest”)
• “Tis some visitor& tapping at my chamber door Only this and nothing more.” (From Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven”)

These are one of the most common figures of speech in English, and you must have used them at least once, even if you are not a native English language speaker. These phrases are meant to emphasize the importance of something by using overexaggerated phrases. Two examples of hyperbole figures of speech are- 

• I have told you a million times not to touch my stuff!
• He has a pea-sized brain.

Euphemisms are figures of speech that are used to replace stronger and harsher phrases. These are generally milder or more acceptable terms that you can use in your conversations to sound more polite and sometimes, politically correct. For example- 

• She has “passed away”, instead of “died.”
• The company has “let him go,” instead of “fired him.”

Figures of speech sometimes also express sarcasm. You can use these phrases to convey a certain meaning by stating the opposite of it. In common English parlance, such ironic statements or phrases are easily understood. However, here are two examples that will make it clearer-

• During a thunderstorm, Thomas exclaimed ironically, “What beautiful weather we are having!”
• Gerald proposed a useless idea, to which Thomas responded saying, “That’s genius!”

This type of figure of speech is characterized by words, phrases, or clauses that repeat in consecutive sentences. They are generally used contrastingly in either children’s rhymes or powerful and dramatic speeches. For example- 

• “So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania…” (From Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech).
• “In every cry of every Man, In every infant’s cry of fear, In every voice, in every ban, The mind-forg’d manacles I hear” (in William Blake’s poem “London”).

Puns are also one of the most common figures of speech that you can use in everyday life. They make you sound witty and even comical in some cases and can surely be a conversation starter. A couple of examples of pun figures of speech are- 

• Denial is a river in Egypt (referring to The Nile using the word Denial).
• Her cat is near the computer to keep an eye on the mouse.

Apostrophe figures of speech are situations (usually in literary worlds), when a character, author, or speaker addresses an inanimate object or even a person that does not really exist in the given scenario. While you may not find it in common usage, it is definitely an interesting figure of speech to learn about. Here are two examples- 

• Oh, rose, how sweet you smell and how bright you look!
• Oh, trees, how majestic you are as you throw down your golden leaves.

Similar to ironies, these figures of speech highlight something by talking about exactly the opposite of it. However, a paradox is different because it does not point out the dissimilarity as obviously as an irony. Let’s look at two paradox figures of speech examples-

• “Some of the biggest failures I ever had were successes.” (As said by American actress Pearl Bailey).
• “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” (As said by English novelist George Orwell).

An understatement is also a type of figure of speech. It is aimed at inciting a less reactive response to a particular statement. These can really come in handy during your day-to-day English conversations. For example- 

• That condemned house just needs a coat of paint.
• Sue won the lottery, so she’s a bit excited.

Much like synonyms, these figures of speech refer to words that are used in place of other words (nouns, to be specific). These replacement words are different from the word replaced but share a common connection. Here are two metonymy figure of speech examples- 

• “The pen is mightier than the sword.” (here, ‘pen’ has replaced ‘the written word’).
• “If you want, I can give you a hand.” (here, ‘hand’ has replaced ‘help’).

Not to be confused with ironies and paradoxes, this figure of speech is used to connect two opposite ideas simultaneously. This means that, in an oxymoron figure of speech, two contrasting ideas are used within a single sentence to have a jocular effect. For example- 

• This is another fine mess you have got us into.
• Suddenly the room filled with a deafening silence.

Antithesis is a figure of speech that contrasts words or ideas in juxtaposition. It shouldn’t be mistaken with an oxymoron because the former is a statement that conveys two conflicting ideas, while the latter is a strategy used to convey two opposing ideas or concepts in a sentence. Some common examples of antithesis are-

• To err is human, to forgive is divine.
• Speech is silver, but silence is gold.

A figure of speech in which ideas, words, phrases, clauses, or sentences are arranged in ascending order of importance. 

• To infinity and beyond!
• My brother, my captain, my king. 

Anticlimax is a figure of speech in which ideas and events gradually descend in order of importance. It is a rhetorical device that entails abrupt tone changes while moving from significant ideas to unimportant ones.

• She lost her family, her home, and her car.
• She is a great writer, a daughter, and a cook.

Apart from these 18 types of figures of speech with examples, there are many more that you may want to know about. Like-

• Circumlocution, and

-are all different types of figures of speech, though somewhat uncommon in usage.

The best part about knowing all of these is that you can significantly increase the amount of expressiveness in your writing, which is something that is highly sought-after in candidates who sit for exams like the IELTS and the TOEFL.  

• Figures of speech are expressions with hidden meanings that add depth to language and should not be taken literally.
• Using figures of speech in English can enhance both spoken and written communication, making it more engaging and expressive.
• The blog introduces 18 types of figures of speech, including metaphors, similes, personification, and irony, each serving a unique purpose in language.
• Learning figures of speech is beneficial for language exams like IELTS and TOEFL and can improve overall English communication skills.

Feel free to check out our blogs for more such interesting tips! All the best for your upcoming exam!

Liked this blog? Read: Direct and Indirect Speech | A complete guide to the English language

1. What is ‘irony’ in the figure of speech examples?

Irony is a type of figure of speech that is used to denote an opposite meaning to whatever is being said or written. 

2. What figure of speech is good?

While each person may have his/her own personal favorite figures of speech, using metaphors, euphemisms and oxymorons may be considered quite clever. 

3. Which are the 3 most popular figures of speech example sentences?

Three popular figures of speech example sentences are- 

• Your hands are as clean as mud.
• Twinkle, twinkle, little star, How I wonder what you are.
• He passed away in his sleep.

4. What are examples of a metaphor?

Some popular examples of metaphors are-

• “I’m feeling blue”
• “Sharon is an early bird”
• “Raining cats and dogs”
• “Heart of gold”

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14 Literary Devices That You Should Utilize While Writing An Essay

In your quest to prepare a perfect essay, you may have often thought about a number of ways you can adapt to enhance your writing. Now, following academic conventions means you need to enhance the language a little, without employing too many words or expressions. In this case, transforming any ordinary sentence into extraordinary speech can be achieved with the application of a variety of figures of speech. These are literary devices that are adapted to enrich the quality of language.

So, let's get you acquainted further on how you can employ these techniques to improve your essay writing by elaborating on these 14 types of figures of speech.

Literary Devices that Make Essay Attractive

This figure of speech is the most frequently used of all the literary devices in the English language, and it is often confused with metaphors. A simile is applied in order to present a comparison of one object with another using the words ‘as’ and ‘like’ or even ‘appears’ and ‘seems'. Now, the objects in comparison may not be of a similar nature, but they are compared to make a point about each other.

• My little son is ‘like’ a typhoon, he runs around everywhere inside the house and destroys whatever he touches.

In this instance, the first portion where the son is being compared with a typhoon is a simile, while the rest of the sentence elucidates why such a comparison is made. Here are some similar instances,

• Life is like a rainbow.
• Love is like magic.

2. Metaphor

As stated before, a Metaphor often resembles a Simile, but its application is somewhat different, considering it adopts two different elements for comparison and then attempts to connect these elements through a factor that makes them alike. The metaphor doesn't require the words ‘like’ and ‘as’ to be used in the sentences. It doesn’t really consist of a lot of words or phrases, yet compels the readers to grasp the similarities. There are some categories of metaphors including mixed metaphors and dead metaphors.

 Example:

She is a night owl. Now in this specific sentence, does it imply that she is really the sparrow? No. Rather, the comparison is just formed to indicate how two different words are being tied together in the same sentence, and this is basically known as a metaphor.

The world’s a stage.

The common distinction between a Metaphor and a Simile:

A metaphor does not require the usage of words ‘like’ and ‘as’ in the sentences, as a Simile does and that’s where the only dissimilarity between a Metaphor and a Simile lies.

3. Irony 

The irony is another popular figure of speech, and it's many people's favorites because it comes across as similar to sarcasm where what you say is exactly the opposite of what you mean. It may or may not always denote a humourous situation and is often used to ridicule in such a way that it seems serious to the people who are at the receiving end of it.

The traffic cop got arrested for not paying his parking tickets.

4. Alliteration

Alliteration is another extremely prevalent figure of speech. This type of literary device is basically the repetition of a particular alphabet multiple times. When several similar-sounding words that start with the same alphabet are placed one after the other, then alliteration is formed.

Alliteration is more often applied as a catchy slogan in public banners or advertisements to make it sound appealing and entertaining to the general populace. It’s a poetic method primarily adopted by philosophers and poets in their poems to enhance their quality. It must be pointed out that alliteration is only about the sound of a few consecutive words, the alphabet like ‘c', and ‘k’ could be used alternatively, and so are ‘s’ and ‘c’ such as ‘cookie’, ‘kitchen and ‘cycle’, ‘sunflower’.

• Come and clean your closet.
• Natalie needed Nutella.
• Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
• Mickey Mouse or Minnie Mouse.

 5. Idiom

An idiom is a literary device that is adopted in a write-up to explain a situation with ease but by utilizing expressions that are typically not connected to the situation in question.

• They should bury the hatchet.

- This idiom means that two people who did not get along previously, should make up and call it a truce.

• It takes two to tango.
• This idiom, on the other hand, indicates that one person cannot be solely responsible for messing up a situation.

6. Apostrophe

Breaking away from a set pattern to specifically address an absent person or thing, some abstract quality, a non-existent character, or an inanimate object is known as an apostrophe.

• “O western wind, when wilt thou blow That the small rain down can rain?”
• "Blue Moon, you saw me standing alone, without a dream in my heart, without a love on my own."

7. Euphemism

This figure of speech refers to the words that are used as a replacement for rude offensive or harsh words. Euphemism is basically an alternative to offensive words that are adopted to put the point across more gently.

• Saying ‘relieving you from your duties’ to an employee rather than blatantly mentioning ‘you're fired.'
• Informing people about the demise of an individual by using ‘passed away’ rather than ‘died.'

8. Paralipsis

This particular device is adopted by people who do not wish to speak explicitly on a subject but still manage to include a vague reference.

• I would rather not allow me to dwell on Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s opium addiction, and too many have already sensationalized strained friendships with Wordsworth.

9. Personification

It is a literary technique in which inanimate objects are treated as if they have human attributes. Personification can allow writers to form more vivid descriptions, help the readers perceive the world in a whole new way, and capture more effectively the human experience of the world (considering that people really do attribute the non-human entities of the world as having human qualities).

• The carved pumpkin smiled at me.
• The photograph in the magazine screamed for attention.

10. Proverb

A proverb is a short and common sentence or phrase that is universally adopted within the English language to express general truths. “Don’t cry over spilled milk" is a great example. Most proverbs also include metaphors (which means a proverb about milk isn’t literally about milk).

• I know you believe you will sell all your cookies, but don’t count your chickens before they hatch!

Here, “don’t count your chickens before they hatch” refers to the fact that you shouldn’t act as if something has already taken place even before it has.

11. Hyperbole

Hyperbole is an expression that exaggerates the ordinary by using it in comparison with a heavy word and often tends to overstate the ordinary situation. It elucidates the particular word to a great degree, saying much more than what is intended. That way, hyperbole can be considered as the opposite of an understatement.

• I have warned you a hundred times to clean your cupboard

In this case, the speaker did not really say it a hundred times; it is just an expression denoting that the statement has been made quite a few times.

• The choir went on for an eternity.

In this sentence, the choir couldn’t possibly go on for an eternity. It just denotes that the performance was a prolonged one.

• I'm so busy trying to get ten million things done at once.

This literally means that the speaker has many things to accomplish and ‘ten million' is just a hyperbolic expression.

12. Metonymy

Metonymy is a literary method that makes use of a phrase or a word regarding a connected concept, in order to elaborate on the actual concept. A metonym is a term or phrase that is adopted to define something that has a much bigger meaning.

• “The editorial page has always believed...”

- This means the collective belief of the editors who develop the editorial page of a newspaper.

• She writes a fine hand.
• It simply means that she has good handwriting.

13. Oxymoron

An oxymoron is a literary device that pairs words that are contradictory in order to elucidate new or complex meanings. Oxymorons are known as tropes as their impact arises from a collection of the two phrases or words that goes beyond the literal meanings of those words.

• In the phrase "parting is such sweet sorrow" from Romeo and Juliet, "sweet sorrow" is an oxymoron that highlights the complex feelings of pain and pleasure that are connected with passionate love.
• Sweet revenge.
• Small crowd.

14. Paradox

A paradox is a technique that, at first glance, comes across as contradictory, but upon further probing, highlights some point of truth or reason. Oscar Wilde's famous quote "Life is much too important to be taken seriously" is a paradox. At first, sounds contradictory as all significant things are supposed to be taken seriously, but if we go by Wilde's suggestion, the more important something seems, the more it is not to be taken seriously.

War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.

- George Orwell, 1984

Wrapping it up,

These are only some of the distinctive figures of speech that you will come across in your academic career while working on numerous essays and write-ups. Knowing how each one of these literary devices works can enhance your academic work to a great degree. If you want to learn how to write a literary essay , this Guide will definitely help!

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Our essay writers are known to be extremely deadline-oriented, and they have a great record of producing flawless tasks within the specified deadline. This is because they are sufficiently well-versed with all the academic conventions that exist and know how to apply them to bring out the best in your academic paper.

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I Hope You All Feel Terrible Now

How the internet—and Stephen Colbert—hounded Kate Middleton into revealing her diagnosis

Updated at 4:04 p.m ET on March 22, 2024

For many years, the most-complained-about cover of the British satirical magazine Private Eye was the one it published in the week after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997. At the time, many people in Britain were loudly revolted by the tabloid newspapers that had hounded Diana after her divorce from Charles, and by the paparazzi whose quest for profitable pictures of the princess ended in an underpass in Paris.

Under the headline “Media to Blame,” the Eye cover carried a photograph of a crowd outside Buckingham Palace, with three speech bubbles. The first was: “The papers are a disgrace.” The next two said: “Yeah, I couldn’t get one anywhere” and “Borrow mine, it’s got a picture of the car.” People were furious. Sacks of angry, defensive mail arrived for days afterward, and several outlets withdrew the magazine from sale. (I am an Eye contributor, and these events have passed into office legend.) But with the benefit of hindsight, the implication was accurate: Intruding on the private lives of the royals is close to a British tradition. We Britons might have the occasional fit of remorse, but that doesn’t stop us. And now, because of the internet, everyone else can join in too.

Read: Just asking questions about Kate Middleton

That cover instantly sprang to mind when, earlier today, the current Princess of Wales announced that she has cancer. In a video recorded on Wednesday in Windsor, the former Kate Middleton outlined her diagnosis in order to put an end to weeks of speculation, largely incubated online but amplified and echoed by mainstream media outlets, about the state of her health and marriage.

Kate has effectively been bullied into this statement, because the alternative—a wildfire of gossip and conspiracy theories—was worse. So please, let’s not immediately switch into maudlin recriminations about how this happened. It happened because people felt they had the right to know Kate’s private medical information. The culprits may include three staff members at the London hospital that treated her, who have been accused of accessing her medical records, perhaps driven by the same curiosity that has lit up my WhatsApp inbox for weeks. Everyone hates the tabloid papers, until they become them.

In her statement, Kate said that after her abdominal surgery earlier in the year, which the press was told at the time was “planned”—a word designed to minimize its seriousness—later tests revealed an unspecified cancer. She is now undergoing “preventative chemotherapy,” but has not revealed the progression of the disease, or her exact prognosis. “I am well,” she said, promising that she is getting stronger every day. “I hope you will understand that as a family, we now need some time, space and privacy while I complete my treatment.”

This news will surely make many people feel bad. The massive online guessing game about the reasons for Kate’s invisibility seems far less fun now. Stephen Colbert’s “spilling the tea” monologue , which declared open season on the princess’s marriage, should probably be quietly interred somewhere. The sad simplicity of today’s statement, filmed on a bench with Kate in casual jeans and a striped sweater, certainly gave me pause. She mentioned the difficulty of having to “process” the news, as well as explaining her condition to her three young children in terms they could understand. The reference to the importance of “having William by my side” was pointed, given how much of the speculation has gleefully dwelt on the possibility that she was leaving him or vice versa.

Read: The eternal scrutiny of Kate Middleton

However, the statement also reveals that the online commentators who suggested that the royal household was keeping something from the public weren’t entirely wrong. Kate’s condition was described as noncancerous when her break from public life was announced in late January . The updated diagnosis appears to have been delivered in February, around the time her husband, Prince William, abruptly pulled out of speaking at a memorial service for the former king of Greece. Today’s statement represents a failure of Kensington Palace to control the narrative: first, by publishing a photograph of Kate and her children that was so obviously edited that photo agencies retracted it, and second, by giving its implicit permission for the publication of a grainy video of the couple shopping in Windsor over the weekend. Neither of those decisions quenched the inferno raging online—in fact, they fed it.

Some will say that Kate has finally done what she should have done much earlier: directly address the rumors in an official video, rather than drip-feed images that raised more questions than they answered. King Charles III has taken a different approach to his own (also unspecified) cancer, allowing footage to be filmed of him working from home. But then again, Kate has cancer at 42, is having chemo, and has three young children. Do you really have it in you to grade her media strategy and find it wanting?

Ironically, Britain’s tabloid papers have shown remarkable restraint; as I wrote earlier this month , they declined to publish the first paparazzi pictures of Kate taken after her withdrawal from public life. They have weighted their decisions toward respect and dignity—more so than the Meghan stans, royal tea-spillers, and KateGate theorists, who have generated such an unstoppable wave of interest in this story that its final destination was a woman with cancer being forced to reveal her diagnosis. If you ever wanted proof that the “mainstream media” are less powerful than ever before, this video of Kate Middleton sitting on a bench is it.

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