Figures of Speech/Rhetorical Devices
I. Introduction
By figures of speech we refer here to those rhetorical devices termed tropes in classical rhetoric. Tropes have to do with the way words are made to mean other than what they would normally imply, and therefore involve deviation from the ordinary and literal meaning of words. They are ways of making our language figurative.
A knowledge of the figures, and of how they are best used will be of help to us not only in deepening our understanding of what we read, but also in appreciating more fully the finer points of a writer’s style. In the process, we might even learn to write better ourselves.
The number of figures ranged from 65 to 200 in classical times. We will only choose those that are of most universal appeal, and of the greatest practical value.
II. Simile and metaphor 1. simile:
It is a comparison between two distinctively different things and the comparison is indicated by the word as, like, as if, than. A simile is made up of three parts, the tenor, the vehicle, and the indicator of resemblance or simile marker.
A simile is a figure of speech which makes a comparison between two unlike elements having at least one quality or characteristic in common. The comparison is purely imaginative, that is, the resemblance between the two unlike things in that one particular aspect exists only in our minds, in our “inward eye” and not in the nature of the things themselves. To make the comparison, words like as, as … as, as … so, like, as if, as though, similar to, to bear a resemblance to, and comparative structure, prepositional phrases, and other collocations are used to transfer the quality we associate with one to the other. Sometimes the association is between unfamiliar and familiar things, or between abstract and concrete images. The stronger the association that is felt, the greater the force of the comparison, the stronger the power of suggestion and the sharper the image produced.
1) like
a. And then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel and shining morning
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face, creeping like snail unwillingly to school … (Shakespeare)
b. He was like a cock who thought the sun had risen for him to crow. c. Records fell like ripe apples on a windy day.
d. Mother was short and plump and pretty. Her eyes were blue, and her brown hair was like a bird’s smooth wings …
e. Habit may be likened to a cable; every day we weave a thread, and soon we cannot break it. 2) as
a. Men fear death, as children fear to go in the dark: and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other.
b. As the lion is king of beasts, so is the eagle king of birds. 3) as if, as though
a. She spoke hurriedly, as if her heart had leaped into her throat at the boy’s words.
b. He was a beautiful horse that looked as though he had come out of a painting by Velasquez. 4) what
a. Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.
b. What salt is to food, that wit and humour are to conversation and literature. 5) than
a. He has no more idea of money than a cow.
b. A home without love is no more than a body without a soul. 6) and
a. A word and a stone let go cannot be recalled. b. Love and cough cannot be hid. 7) with
a. With the quickness of a long cat, she climbed up into the nest of cool-bladed foliage. 2. metaphor:
It is the use of a word which originally denotes one thing to refer to another with a similar quality. It is also a comparison between two distinctively different things, but the comparison is implied, not expressed with the word as or like. Metaphor is also called Condensed Simile. Metaphors are used not only after verb to be, and not only nouns can be used metaphorically, adjectives, adverbs, verbs can also be used metaphorically.
1) n.
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a. The parks are the lungs of our city. b. Money is a lens in a camera. 2) v.
a. Applications for jobs flooded the Employment Agency. 3) adj.
a. The mountainous waves swallowed up the ship. 4) of phrase
the bridge of friendship, the valley of despair, a flower of a girl III. Analogy, allegory, metonymy, synecdoche and allusion 1. analogy
It is also a form of comparison, but unlike simile or metaphor, which usually concentrates on one point of resemblance, analogy draws a parallel between two unlike things that have several common qualities or points of resemblance. Analogy is chiefly used for the purpose of persuasion or for the explanation or exposition of an idea. Analogy could be a simile or a metaphor, it is a combination of different figurative usages.
a. “The chess-board is the world; the pieces are the phenomena of the
universe; the rules of the game are what we call the laws of Nature. The player on the other side is hidden from us. …”
b. It’s with our judgments as with our watches; none go just alike, yet each
believes his own.
c. Judicious praise is to children what the sun is to flowers.
d. The inspiration for a story is like “a pull on the line… the outside signal
that has startled or moved the creative mind to complicity and brought the story to active being…”
Analogy looks like simile in form, but the difference is: analogy provide the reason for the differences while simile and metaphor remain unexplained. 2. allegory:
It is a milder figurative use than metaphor, it applies concrete images to illustrate abstract notions, it leads the readers to get to the nature of things or profound concepts through concrete images and easy facts.
a. No rose without a thorn.
b. It’s time to turn swords into ploughs.
Names of books: Pilgrim’s Progress; Animal Farm
Many allegories come from classical myths, some English proverbs and idioms are good examples of allegory.
All that glisters is not gold. (from The Merchant of Venice)
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