FIGURATIVE SPEECHFIGURE

a person in a painting

CORRECT! You simply paint mental images in the reader’s mind by making comparisons

between two DIFFERENT things.

COMPARISON

showing the similarities between two different things

WHAT IS FIGURATIVE SPEECH?

SPEECH ^_^ You must be kidding!

WHAT WOULD YOU COMPARE SOMEONE TO IF THEY WERE...?

VERY

HUNGRYVERY KIND

VERY

SLOW

VERY

STRONG

He is hungry like an elephant.

She is like an angel.

He’s slow as an ox.

He is strong like a bull.

WHY WOULD YOU COMPARE A PERSON TO ONE OF THE FOLLOWING?

Figurative language

does not only point at

exactly sb or sth, but

instead forces the

reader to make an

IMAGINATIVE LEAP to a

much different thing

that has something in

common.

LEAPS WE HAVE MADE IN THE EXAMPLES

FROM

AN ANGEL

TO

A KINDHEARTED PERSON

AN ELEPHANTA HUNGRY PERSON

A JACKALAN

OPPORTUNIST

A ROBOTA

WORKAHOLIC

“Tom spoke like a

machine gun in class.”

COMPARISON

Tom is compared to a machine gun regarding the quick way he speaks.

IMAGINATIVE LEAP

We imagine his words like a volley of bullets and his mouth like a tommy gun.

This lets us imagine that he left almost no room for others to say much, or people had difficulty in following his words.

OTHERWISE

THERE WOULD

HAVE BEEN

BLOODSHED IN

CLASS!

FROM

TO

DELLA’S BEAUTIFU

L HAIR

RIPPLING AND SHINING

LIKE A CASCADE

WHEN DELLA

QUICKLY MOVES TO SHOW HER PRESENT

LIKE A SINGED

CAT

LEAPS IN THE GIFT OF THE MAGI

FROM

TO

DELLA’S HAIRLESS STATE

LIKE A CONEY ISLAND CHORUS

GIRLLIKE A

TRUANT SCHOOL

BOY

LEAPS IN THE GIFT OF THE MAGI

FROM

TO

JIM AND DELLA’S

GIFTS

THE GIFT OF THE MAGI

JIMS’S TRANSFIXE

D STATE

IMMOVABLE AS A

SETTER AT THE

SCENT OF A QUAIL

LEAPS IN THE GIFT OF THE MAGI

AS YOU SEE,... WE MAKE

LOTS OF IMAGINATIVE

LEAPS TO CREATE

MENTAL IMAGES IN THE

READER’S MIND, BUT

LITERATURE ISN’T ONLY

ALL ABOUT LEAPS. IF SO,

WE WOULD CALL IT

LEAPERATUR

E , NOT LITERATURE!...