Identifying
Figurative Language
Figurative Language
“He found them sprawled in sleep, suspecting nothing, their dreams undisturbed / Up from his swampland, sliding silently. Toward that gold-shining hall.” Beowulf
Which type of figurative language is being used here?
Idiom, Meiosis, Simile, or Alliteration?
Alliteration
The repetition of consonant sounds (S).
“. . . would her fine son escape his death
or go down at her overweening suitors' hands? Her mind in torment, wheeling like some lion at bay, dreading gangs of hunters closing their cunning ring around him for the finish.”
-Penelope, The Odyssey
How does Penelope feel based on this simile?
Happy, Helpless, Hungry, Crazy?
Penelope expresses her feeling of helplessness by comparing the suitors to hunters and herself to a trapped lion.
Excerpt from The Raven:
"On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before.”
Name one of the figurative language devices being used here?
Simile or Personification
I abhor my sister’s obnoxious behavior.
What does the word, “abhor” mean?
To feel hatred or disgust towards someone or something.
Which vocabulary word means “wanting to take legal action; quarrelsome”?
Labyrinth
Litigious
Incredulous
Inconsequential
2. Litigious
The engine gave one final protest before the car shuddered to a stop.
Which type of figurative language is being used here?
Personification, Onomatopoeia, Simile, or Allusion?
Personification
Representing a thing or idea as a person in art or literature.
“Just look at Odysseus there, nearing Phaeacia’s shores where he’s fated to escape his noose of pain
that’s held him until now.”
-Poseidon, The Odyssey
What is the metaphor in this passage?
...to escape his noose of pain that's held him..."
Excerpt from The Raven:
"To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core,“
Which figurative language device is being used here?
Metaphor
Alexandria’s songs are intentionally ambiguous.
What does “ambiguous” mean?
Having more than one possible meaning.
Which vocabulary word means “lumbering and laborious in movement”?
Ponderous
Posthumous
Resolute
Resilience
1. Ponderous
“As when a lion has fought some fierce wild-boar and worsted him – the two fight furiously upon the mountains over some little fountain at which they would both drink, and the lion has beaten the boar till he can hardly breathe.” The Iliad
Which type of figurative language is being used here?
Simile
A comparison using “like” or “as”.
“How often their hearts must warm with joy to see Alcinous striding into the dances— such a bloom of beauty.”
-Odysseus, The Odyssey
What is the metaphor in this passage? What is being compared?
Alcinous is being compared to a flower ("a bloom of beauty")
Excerpt from The Raven:
"And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,“
What is the metaphor comparing in this excerpt?
It is comparing the bird’s eyes to that of a demon's.
Is the custom of greeting people on elevators prevalent in today's society?
What does “prevalent” mean?
Commonplace in a particular area or at a particular time.
Which vocabulary word means “to explain clearly”?
Fray
Frieze
Elucidate
Eloquent
3. Elucidate
“Just a flesh wound. A mere flesh wound," says the Knight as his arms are chopped off by King Arthur.
-Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
What type of figurative language is being used?
Idiom, Meiosis, Simile, or Allusion?
Meiosis (understatement)
“So the eye of the Cyclops sizzled round that stake!”
-The Odyssey
What is emphasized with the onomatopoeia in this poem?
The sound ("sizzle") the Cyclops’ eye made when the men stabbed it with a stake.
Hope is a thing with feathers
That perches in the soul.
And sings the tune without words
And never stops - at all.
Which TWO figurative language devices are being used here?
Metaphor and Personification
Would it be pertinent to ask why she acted the way she did?
What does “pertinent” mean?
Relevant, important, or applicable to a particular matter.
Which vocabulary word means “lasting, unable to be erased or remove”?
Candid
Candor
Indicted
Indelible
4. Indelible
“Nine years we wove a web of disaster.”
-The Odyssey
Which TWO types of figurative language are being used here?
Metaphor and Alliteration
“Penelope noticed his glossy tunic too, clinging to his skin like the thin glistening skin of a dried onion . . .”
-The Odyssey
Which type of figurative language is being used here? What is being compared?
Simile. The fit of a man's tunic is being compared to the skin of an onion.
Excerpt from The Raven:
"Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—"
What is the example of alliteration? What does it emphasize?
"Weak and weary" emphasizes the exhaustion of the speaker.
The proposed factory shutdown would only exacerbate our unemployment problems.
What does “exacerbate” mean?
To make a bad situation even worse.
Which vocabulary word means “adherence to the highest principles and ideals”?
Probity
Precedent
Antagonism
Antediluvian
1. Probity