FIGURATIVE
LANGUAGE
THREE QUESTIONS
LITERARY NINJAS ASK
Figurative language is the collective term
for three literary devices:
1) Similes
2) Metaphors
3) Personification
Learn to spot, discuss and explain these
devices in the poems you read. Use the
following information as your guide:
1. What similes are there in this poem?
A simile compares one thing with
another. They are easy to spot because
words such as ‘like’ or ‘as’ are used.
The poet’s aim is usually to emphasise or
exaggerate a point. Alternatively, poets
might use a simile because there are no
adjectives powerful enough to
communicate how they feel.
For example, can you say why Christina
Rossetti, in a poem about being in love,
wrote ‘My heart is like a singing bird’
rather than ‘My heart is really, really
happy’?
2. What metaphors are there in this
poem?
A metaphor describes something as
though it is something else.
When Romeo sees Juliet through a
window, he famously declares:
‘…what light through yonder
window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.’
The rising sun has many connotations:
renewal, optimism, a fresh start, heavenly
beauty, and so on. The metaphor
therefore enables Shakespeare to pack
lots of meaning into a small number of
words.
3. Are there any examples of
personification in this poem?
Personification (which is actually a form
of metaphor) is where an object is
described as though it is behaving in a
human or animalistic way.
E.g. Sassoon describes October in the
trenches of World War One thus:
‘October’s bellowing anger
breaks and cleaves’
Personification is extremely useful to
poets in creating atmosphere or mood.
REMEMBER: LITERARY
NINJAS ALWAYS:
BACK UP their points with
evidence from the text and say
HOW figurative language
conveys the poet’s meaning.
