Figurative Language Essay

Whenever you describe something by comparing it with something else, you are using figurative terminology. Figurative language is the expend of language to describe something by comparing it to something else. It serves many linguistic purposes. It allows people to express abstract thoughts. It creates tone and communicates emotional content. The ability to social function figurative language in writing can make a meter or story more enjoyable for the reader.Figurative language is taking words beyond their literal meaning and can come in many diverse forms, all to create a vivid picture of the written word. There are many ways to incorporate figurative language into writing, some of which come as naturally as speaking. A Simile uses the words like or as to compare one object or idea with another to suggest they are alike, much(prenominal) as busy as a bee. In Hart Cranes, My Grandmothers Love Letters he uses the simile liable to melt as snow to describe the fragility of the e arn that have been hidden away in the rafters.This use of figurative language helps the reader to visualize paper that may not be able to make someone touching it, but could similarly be used to convey the fact that not only is the paper old and fragile, but so is his grandmother. In writing, a simile would say you are like something whereas a parable would say you are something. A metaphor states a fact or draws a verbal picture by the use of comparison without using the words like or as.In The highroad non Taken, Robert halt uses a walk in the woods as a metaphor for making a decision in life, a situation that readers can well identify with, therefore making it easier to imagine what they are reading. An implied metaphor is a metaphor that compares two things without being obvious. There are no stars tonight, But those of entrepot from Hart Cranes, My Grandmothers Love Letters is a good example of an implied metaphor. embodiment is a figure of speech in which military pers onnel characteristics are given to an animal or an object and sometimes are difficult to catch in a poem if you are not give attention as in Robert Frosts The Road Not Taken, where he uses the description of the road wanting wear. In the get Loose girdle of soft rain, from My Grandmothers Love Letters, the rain is compared to a loose belt, which is a clear example of Personification and much easier to understand.Creating imagery for the reader helps to entertain, provoke thought or help the reader escape to another reality. Sometimes it can even be idiotic such as the repetition of the same initial letter, sound, or group of sounds in a series of words. This usage of figurative language is called Alliteration and includes vocabulary twisters such as She sells seashells by the seashore. Many writers will use words that describe or imitate a natural sound or the sound made by an object to create imagery within the writing.This is called Onomatopoeia, and although it is a big word that is hard to pronounce, it is the use of small words such as snap, crackle, pop, buzz and creaked that help bring a story or poem to life. Another form of imagery that is used quite often is Hyperbole. This is the use of statements that are so dramatic and exaggerated that a person would not believe the statement is true. I was so hungry that not only did I eat my dinner, I ate the plate and silverware too. A synecdoche is a form of imagery that substitutes a whole object with one aspect of that object.It may also be used to replace a specific object with something more generalized. In My Last Duchess, Robert Browning uses this form of figurative language when he admits to having his Duchess murdered. alternatively of saying he killed her, he makes the statement that all of her smiles have stopped. Figurative language is important when writing poetry, but how the poem is structured and what the account of the poem is can also add or detract from the imagery the writer is trying to create.Robert Brownings My Last Duchess is a dramatic soliloquy pretending to be a conversation, written in iambic pentameter, divided up in pairs of rhymes known as Rhyme Couplets, and with lines that do not pursue end-stops. Instead, the writer uses enjambment, which is when of one line of verse carries over to the next line without a pause such as Her husbands presence only, called that plot of land Of joy into the Duchess cheek perhaps My personal opinion is that the use of enjambment makes it difficult for the reader to understand the ideas and imagery the writer is trying to convey.The theme of this poem is of arrogance, selfishness and jealousy and is lacking any wonderful imagery that could pull the reader in. This is an example of how a structure and theme can make or hiatus the poem. I did not enjoy this poem due to how difficult it was to read, understand and envision. Another part of the structure that sets a poem apart from others is whether there is a rhyming pa ttern to it or if it doesnt have a pattern at all. The Road Not Taken is a lyric poem with quadruplet stanzas of five lines each.A lyric poem is one that presents the feelings and emotions of the poet rather than telling a story such as the poem My Last Duchess. The structure of The Road Not Taken is a straight forward series of five line stanzas. Each stanza presents us with a single idea. The first sets up the metaphor which is then extended through the rest of the poem. I have found that I enjoy this structure and rhyming pattern making The Road Not Taken my favorite poem of the three that I read and chose to write about.Everyone is different in their ability to understand the written word, with some people needing things round-eyed and full of imagery that brings the poem to life. Other people prefer a more complex poem that is not filled with fanciful images, but makes them hazard and analyze what they are reading. No matter what your choice of structure, figurative language or imagery is, they are all necessary to create an interesting portion of written work. Due to people and thought processes being unique to each reader, this explains why there are so many different types of poems that evoke different emotions.