高英 修辞

FIGURES OF SPEECH What’s figure of speech?

Figures of speech refer to those rhetorical devices in which 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 to make our language figurative, more meaningful, more colorful.

We are speaking or writing figuratively when we use words in non-literal senses to lend force to an idea, to heighten effect, or to create atmosphere. Compare the following sentences in effect:

1.T he stars twinkle like diamonds.

2.T he stars shine brightly.

3.I mperialism is a paper tiger.

4.I mperialism appears to be strong but

inwardly it is weak.

Which is more vivid and colorful? Which is more suggestive of outward ferocity and

inner weakness?

The figures can help not only in deepening our understanding of what we read, but also in appreciating more fully the writers’ view and style. We might even learn to write better. In fact, effective writing of any kind is seldom without a figure or two.

I. What is a metaphor? And what is a simile? What is personification?

1.A metaphor, makes a comparison between

two unlike things, but with a point of resemblance. This comparison is implied rather than stated. It requires greater ability of the reader to perceive the hidden association, the insight into persons, things or ideas.

For instance,

“Money is a lens in a camera”.

What is the implied association, the common quality, the point of resemblance?

Our knowledge of photography tells us that a lens in a camera can reflect and record

images of persons or things sharply and objectively. This leads us to the thought that money or the greed for money can also cause people to reveal their true feelings or characters.

So the common quality between the two is that both money and a lens can show up people as truthfully and objectively.

2.A simile also makes a comparison between

the two unlike elements having at least one quality or character on common.. The comparison is imaginative, that is, the resemblance between the two unlike things exists only in our minds, in our inward eye and in the nature of the things themselves.

Sometimes the association is between unfamiliar 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.

3.W hat’s the difference between a simile and

a metaphor?

1)simile: the comparison is indicated/

showed by: like; as; as…as; as if; as

though; (just) as…so.

2)Metaphor: The comparison is implied.

4.P ersonification is a figure of speech that gives human form or feelings to animal, or life and personal attributes to inanimate objects, or to ideas and abstractions, a n act of personifying sth. that is not human being. e.g.

I ran across a dim photograph of him

the other day, going through some old

things. He’s been dead twenty-five years.

His name was Rex… and he was a

bull-terrier.

(Here a dog is personified.) Personification: a

Compare the following sentences, see what figures of speech exist in them: