Figurative Language

breaking off a discourse to address some person or personified thing either present or absent

implied comparison between two things of unlike nature that yet have something in common. It consists of tenor (=subject of the comparison) and vehicle (=image evoked). Sometimes the tenor is only implicit.

=explicit metaphor: a comparison between two things indicated by the word "like" or "as"

The sky is like a polished mirror.

=Vergleich

an expression that has become so common that we have ceased to be aware of the discrepancy between vehicle and tenor

leg of a table, book jacket, eye of a needle

e.g. dead as a doornail

witty, elaborate metaphor

long simile imitated from Homer by Milton and others

tenor and vehicle from two different sensuous areas

If music be the food of love, play on.

presenting abstract ideas in the form of a person

the attribution of human emotions to inanimate objects or to nature

The one red leaf, the last of its clan, That dances as often as dance it can.

a narrative whose literal meanings stand for other meanings such as moral or spiritual ones

e.g. George Owell's Animal Farm

figures of thought/change in meaning

substitution of a thing by another which is logically or spatially associated with it

e.g. the crown for royalty

substitution of a part for a whole

e.g. bread for food, hands for helpers

descriptive phrase for a proper name

The Iron Lady for Mrs. Thatcher, The Big Apple for NYC

the use of exaggerated terms for the purpose of emphasis

"He embraced her a thousand times. "

use of a word in such a way as to convey a meaning opposite to the literal meaning of the word. It involves a discrepancy between what is said and what is meant - seeming to say one thing but meaning another.

understatement

understatement through negation

"He was not the wisest man in the world" = He was a fool.

an inoffensive phrase substituted for one considered offensive

"passed away" for died

repetition of the last word of one line or clause to begin the next

e.g.: Then hate me when thou wilt-if ever, now-

Now, while the world is bent my deeds to cross. (Shakespeare, Sonnet 90)

=Anadiplose in Deutsch: Die Blätter fallen nieder. Fallen nieder wie von weit...

words or phrases arranged in an ascending order of importance

e.g.: I may, I must, I can, I will, I do

Klimax im Deutschen (vs. Antiklimax): Wie habe ich ihn nicht gebeten, gefleht, beschworen.

repetition of the same word at the beginning and end of a clause

e.g.: "Remember March, the Ides of March remember." (Julius Caesar)

Epanalepse im Deutschen: hier am Übereinstimmung am Anfang, im Innern oder am Ende. darum epanalepsis auf Englisch eher wie Kyklos im Deutschen: Entbehren sollst du, sollst entbehren.

repetition of the same word at the beginning of successive clauses or verses

e.g.: some glory in their birth, some in their skill,

Some in their wealth, some in their bodies' force,

Some in their garments - though new-fangled ill,-

some in their hawks and hounds, some in their horse. (Shakespeare, Sonnet 91)

=Anapher: Lies keine Oden, mein Sohn, lies die Kursbücher.

repetition of a closing word of words at the end of several (usually successive) clauses, sentences, or verses

e.g.: "When I was a child, I spake as a child; I understood as a child; I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."

=Epipher: Auch Penthesilea lebt doppelt, begreift sich doppelt.

repetition of one word or phrase at the beginning, and of another at the end, of successive clauses, sentences, or passages; a combination of anaphora and epiphora

e.g.: Most true that I must fair Fidessa love,

Most true that fair Fidessa cannot love.

Most true that I do feel the pains of love,

Most true that I am captive unto love.

needless repetition

e.g.: "I heard it with mine ears and saw it with mine eyes."

=Pleonasmus: neu renoviert, bereits schon, pechrabenschwarz, weisser Schimmel

repetition of the same idea in different words (extended pleonasm)

e.g.: "The tears of it are wet."

=Tautologie: Jener Schimmel dort ist eindeutig ein weisses Pferd.

a play upon the sounds and meanings of words

e.g.: "Ask for me tomorrow and you will find me a grave man." (Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet) --> grave double meaning

a form of pun in which words with similar sounds but different meanings are used

e.g.:

Claudius: But now my cousin Hamlet, and my son-

Hamlet: A little more than kin, and less than kind.

repetition of a word in various grammatical forms

e.g.: "So they go on in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute..." (Churchill)

=Polyptoton: Da freut sich die Frohnatur dieser erfreulichen Stunde.

amplification by synonym

e.g.: What is become of that beautiful face,

those lovely looks, that favour amiable,

those sweet features, and visage full of grace."

opposing concepts

e.g.: heat and cold

a condensed paradox, combination of two normally contradictory terms

e.g.: Milton's "darkness visible" or "I burn and freeze"

= Oxymoron: lebendiger Tod, Regensonne, laut schweigen

a situation, person, or thing that combines contradictory features or qualities

e.g.: Milton's description of God: " Dark with excessive bright thy skirts appear."

= Paradoxon: Der Tod ist das wahre Leben.

The expression of a single idea by two or more words

e.g.: nice and warm, law and order, house and home

(parallelism)

phrases of approximately equal length and corresponding structure

e.g.: He is asked to stand, he wants to sit, and he is expected to lie."

(parallelism)

mirror inversion, i.e. reversal of grammatical structures in successive phrases or clauses

e.g.: When the going gets though, the though gets going.

= Chiasmus: Er rief nach oben, nach unten schaute sie.

omission of conjunctions between words, phrases or clauses

e.g.: "All is over. Silent, mournful, abandoned, broken."/"Veni, vidi, vici"

= Asyndeton: Alles rennet, rettet, flüchtet.