Figurative Language and Extended Metaphor — Flashcards

Grade 10 · English · Flashcards

Master figurative language devices for Grade 10 English analysis and writing.

Flashcards

Simile: Comparison using 'like' or 'as' — 'Her eyes were like stars.'
Metaphor: Direct comparison without 'like/as' — 'Her eyes were stars.'
Extended metaphor: A comparison developed across multiple lines/stanzas — builds force through accumulation.
Personification: Giving human qualities to non-human things — 'The trees waved goodbye.'
Hyperbole: Extreme exaggeration for effect — 'I've been waiting for an eternity.'
Synecdoche: Part represents whole ('all hands on deck') or whole represents part.
Metonymy: An associated concept substitutes for the thing itself ('the Crown' for the monarchy).
Conceit: An elaborate, surprising extended metaphor — especially in metaphysical poetry (Donne's compass).
Apostrophe (literary): Addressing an absent person, abstract quality, or non-human as if present — 'O Death, where is thy sting?'
Oxymoron: Two contradictory terms placed together — 'deafening silence,' 'living death.'
Dead metaphor: A metaphor used so often it is processed as literal language — 'the leg of a table,' 'the head of a department.'
Tenor and vehicle: In a metaphor: the tenor is the subject being described; the vehicle is the image used to describe it.