Figurative Language

Figurative language plays a major part in writing. Without devices like these, all writing would sound extremely similar. Sentences would become bland and boring before you knew it. It would be like watching commercials on television and never returning to your show. In that last sentence, I compared something to something else that the reader could relate to using “like” or “as”, that is called a simile. Figurative language can work wonders in writing.

There are many different kinds of figurative language including, metaphor, analogy, hyperbole, personification, alliteration, and more. The different devices are used in relating different messages to the reader. For example, if something is really large in size, and the author is trying to give the writer an idea of it’s size, they could use a hyperbole. “It was as big as the sun!” Obviously an over exaggeration, this sentence lets the reader imagine how big something really is in a more exciting way.

Learning these devices has made me a better writer in so many ways. I can write an extra page-worth in any essay just by implementing a couple of these writing devices. I can let the reader know exactly what I am trying to say and that is what writing is all about. Not only are these devices fun to use, they enhance every aspect of an essay.

Whenever I think about visual figurative devices, I think about movies. Everything is movies is exaggerated to make it more entertaining; this is writing’s way of doing this. Buildings exploding, car chases, dialogue, and other aspects of movies are all uses of figurative language. The world is full of figurative devices; you just have to see them. Like that last sentence.