Figurative Language

Language used to create a special feeling or event

Personification

• Explanation– Giving humanlike qualities to inanimate objects

• Example– “They were the first faces of hell and death”

(Wiesel, 17).

Hyperbole

• Explanation– An exaggerated description of an object used to

emphasize a point

• Example– “There are a thousand and one gates allowing

entry into the orchard of mystical truth” (Wiesel, 5).

Simile

• Explanation– A comparison using like or as

• Example– “…tears, like drops of wax, flowed from his eyes”

(Wiesel, 5).

Metaphor

• Explanation– A comparison of two unrelated objects in order to

create similar meaning

• Example– “The stars were only sparks of the fire which

devoured us. Should that fire die out one day, there would be nothing left in the sky but dead stars, dead eyes” (Wiesel, 18)

Diction

• Explanation– The writer’s word choice the adds to the style of writing in

a poem or story

• Example– “Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that

turned my life into one long night seven times sealed.Never shall I forget that smoke.Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky…” (Weisel 34)

Figurative Language

Language used to create a special feeling or event

Personification

• Explanation

• Example– “They were the first faces of hell and death”

(Wiesel, 17).

Hyperbole

• Explanation

• Example– “There are a thousand and one gates allowing

entry into the orchard of mystical truth” (Wiesel, 5).

Simile

• Explanation

• Example– “…tears, like drops of wax, flowed from his eyes”

(Wiesel, 5).

Metaphor

• Explanation

• Example– “The stars were only sparks of the fire which

devoured us. Should that fire die out one day, there would be nothing left in the sky but dead stars, dead eyes” (Wiesel, 18)