Figurative Language
Personification, Hyperbole, Allusion, Pun, Irony
Personification
Definition:
Human traits are given to nonliving things.
Example:The leaves danced in the wind.
Literature Meaning:
The leaves were just blowing around in the wind.
Hyperbole
Definition:
An extreme exaggeration.
Example:That green bag weighs a ton!
Literature Meaning:
The green bag does was a lot and is very heavy. But, the bag doesn't weigh as much as a ton.
Allusion
A figure of speech that makes a reference to people, places, events, and literary works directly or by implying them.
Example:
Sally had a smile that rivaled only by that of the Mona Lisa.
Literature Meaning:
Sally’s smile was very beautiful, just like Mona Lisa. However, her smile didn’t look anything like Mona Lisa.
Pun
A joke exploiting the different possible meanings of a word.
Example:
These puns are tearable.
Literature Meaning:
The puns on the page were not bad puns. They could be torn off the page.
Irony
An event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a result.
Example:
A fire truck on fire.
Literature Meaning:
Since the fire truck takes out fires, it’s funny that it was on fire.
A Girl That Found Hope
It was one evening when the chaos started. Sally Mae was walking home from her soccer game. Walking three blocks to get to her house seemed liked a mile because she had to carry her bag that weighed a ton(1). The stars were already lifted into the black sky(2). She could feel something following her but she never knew what. Out of nowhere the car following her rolled up to the side of the sidewalk. The last thing Sally Mae knew was being thrown into the trunk of the car. When Sally Mae woke up the next morning she was in a room that she had never seen before. Then at that moment she knew that she had been kidnapped! As she sat in the room, Sally Mae did not know what to do at all. After a minute, Sally Mae came up with a plan. An escape plan.
After hours and hours of planning her escape plan, Sally Mae had everything figured out. When time was getting closer to her escape time, Sally Mae was getting more and more nervous. She kept on thinking, “There is no place like home”(3). When the time came for Sally Mae to escape, she first tried to jump out of a window. It took a few times for her to open the window but eventually she got it to open and then she proceeded to climb out. Sally Mae didn’t know how she exactly was going to get to her house but she did know that she was in her hometown. She just kept on running and running to get home. Sally Mae seeked hope that she would run back home safely. She hoped that her kidnapper would never find her ever again!
One thing that came acrossed Sally Mae’s mind was that she never knew who was her kidnapper, she had so many wonders about him. Wonders like his name, age, and just about him. Soonly, Sally Mae pushed those thoughts out of her head and just focused on getting home. When Sally Mae was running she saw a sign that said Always Open, but then below it said Closed(4). She thought that sign was hilarious! After an hour of running and looking for her house, Sally Mae found her way home. When she got home she saw the news team at her house, policemen, friends, and many of her family members. When everyone had seen that she was safe, they started looking for her kidnapper. After weeks of searching, the police found her kidnapper and arrested him. When Sally Mae first got home, everyone tried to cheer her up. They tried saying jokes like, “I wondered why the baseball was so big, then it hit me” (5). But nothing helped or worked to cheer Sally Mae up! She came to the conclusion that, she will never ever forget the day, she had gotten kidnapped.
Key
Hyperbole
Personification
Allusion
Irony
Pun