Figure of Speech

Figure of Speech

by kathleen gabrielle, gloria joy

Figure of speech is an expressive, nonliteral use of language.

Hyperbole : the exaggeration of a statement to create a certain effect.
Metaphor : a comparison of two dissimilar things that have something in common.
Onomatopoeia : the use of words to express or imitate a sound.
Personification : when a word, object, or idea is given human qualities or abilities.
Simile : a comparison between two things, uses ‘like’ or ‘as’.
Alliteration : the repetition of the beginning sound to the neighboring words

Anaphora : when several phrases in a poem begin with with the same words

The Dawn's awake!

 A flash of smoldering flame and fire

Ignites the East. Then, higher, higher,

 O'er all the sky so gray, forlorn,

 The torch of gold is borne.

The Dawn's awake!

 The dawn of a thousand dreams and thrills.

And music singing in the hills

 A paean of eternal spring,

 Voices the new awakening.

The Dawn's awake!

 Whispers of pent-up harmonies,

With the mingled fragrance of the trees;

   Faint snatches of half-forgotten song--

 Fathers! torn and numb,--

   The boon of light we craved, awaited long,

 Has come, has come!

Figure of speech analysis (by gloria joy) :

This poem is written using various figurative language. The writer, Otto Leland Bohanan is famous for using figure of speech in his work. Being an African American poet during the Harlem Renaissance era, this poem could interpret to the bright rise of the African American culture after cultural oppressions. This could be interpreted as the freedom of the African American, thus explaining the festive and praises words throughout the poem being used.

We can observe personifications being used such as: “The Dawn’s awake!”  this line indicates and gives reader the impression that dawn is given a human like trait such as waking up. Throughout the poem we can find more than one personifications. Another one is: “The torch of gold is borne.” The torch of gold (or the sun) is never born, it’s just given the human like trait to emphasis on how the sun slowly rises up and gives reader a clearer depiction.

Hyperbole is also widely use in this poetry for exaggeration. The line: “A pæan of eternal spring” is a hyperbole. Springs aren’t eternal, and paean of eternal springs are just way too exaggerated. The dawn of a thousand dreams and thrills also is a hyperbole. How do I one has a thousand dreams?

Contrasting to the line: “O’er all the sky so gray, forlorn, “. This poem’s tone is mainly bright and positive. This line might be used to describe the suffering and oppression the African American people have been through for years and that bright future is awaiting ahead.

Figure of speech in this poetry is often used to give readers a clearer depiction on the writer’s emotion. How the hope and joy from freedom gleaming from his heart that he poured out into this poem. To describe and emphasize on how the African American have lived and have longed for freedom.

This is why figure of speech are important. They create a beautifully arranged sophisticated words while being able to emphasize and enhance the image being depict in the reader’s mind.

The Sea Poem by James Reeves - Poem Hunter

The sea is a hungry dog,

Giant and grey.

He rolls on the beach all day.

With his clashing teeth and shaggy jaws

Hour upon hour he gnaws

The rumbling, tumbling stones,

And 'Bones, bones, bones, bones! '

The giant sea-dog moans,

Licking his greasy paws.

And when the night wind roars

And the moon rocks in the stormy cloud,

He bounds to his feet and snuffs and sniffs,

Shaking his wet sides over the cliffs,

And howls and hollos long and loud.

But on quiet days in May or June,

When even the grasses on the dune

Play no more their reedy tune,

With his head between his paws

He lies on the sandy shores,

So quiet, so quiet, he scarcely snores.

Figure of speech (by Kathleen Gabrielle) :

This poem uses a number of different basic and commonly found figures of speech in which the following are metaphor, personification, imagery, rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, assonance, and repetition. He uses metaphor in the line “the sea is a hungry dog”, implying that it can get vicious and dangerous, and it can also mean that the sea is the dog itself. Personification can be found in various line which mentions the dog s “he” or “his” which gives the dog a human form when it should actually be “it”. Imagery gives the reader an image to the reader when they read the poem and it describes what the dog is doing, like in the line “licking his greasy paws”. Rhyme can be found in almost all the lines, for example at the end of lines 2 and 3, in which the rhyme is in the word “grey” and “day. They sound very similar. The author uses rhythm to create variable syllable stresses like in the line “the rumbling, tumbling stones”. Alliteration can be identified as words that begin with the same letters, like “snuffs and sniffs”. Assonance is the repetition of the same vowels in a certain line, like in the phrase “And the moon rocks in the stormy cloud”. Repetition is identified as the repetition of the same words in a line of poem, like in the line “And ‘Bones, bones, bones!”.