Figures of Speech - Metaphor

 Metaphor: 

    An implied comparison between two, unlike things with something important in common.  (as if two things were one)

Examples: 
    1. The camel is the ship of the desert. 
    2. Life is a dream. 
    3. The news was a dagger to his heart. 
    4. Revenge is a kind of wild justice. 
    5. My heart is a lonely hunter.

Note: Every SIMILE can be compressed into a METAPHOR, and Every METAPHOR can be expanded into a SIMILE. 

Examples: 
    1. Siva fought as fiercely as a lion. (SIMILE)
    2. Siva was a lion in the fight. (METAPHOR)
    3. My Love is like a red rose.  (SIMILE)
    4. Love is a rose but you better not pick it. (METAPHOR)

Figures of Speech (SIMILE)

 Simile: 

    In Simile, a comparison is made between two objects of different kinds with at least one point in common. 

The Simile is introduced by the words 'as....as' or 'like'.

"Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're going to get".

EXAMPLES: 

    1. As active a quicksilver

    2. As afraid as a grasshopper

    3. As ageless as the sun

    4. As alert as a bird

    5. As ambitious as the devil

    6. As agile as a Monkey

    7. As agile as a cat

    8. They fought like cats and dogs

    9. She slept like a log

  10. She is like an angel

  11. As cool as a cucumber 

  12. John runs as fast as lightning 

Figures of Speech in English (Alliteration)

 ALLITERATION:

                    Alliteration refers to the repetition of an initial consonant sound, at least three times in a sentence. 

        EXAMPLES:     

 - A peck of pickled peppers (repetition of 'p' sound)
    
 - Don't delay the dawn's disarming display. Dusk demands daylight.            (repetition of 'd' sound)

 - Sara's seven sisters slept soundly on the sand. (repetition of 's' sound)

 - Sally sells sea shells by the seashore. (repetition of 's' sound)

Examples with the phrases:

- Busy as a bee
- Dead as a doornail
- Get your goat
- Give up the ghost
- Good as gold
- Home sweet home
- Last laugh 
- Leave in the lurch

The Ballad Of Father Gilligan by William Butler Yeats (Text and Analysis)

The Ballad Of Father Gilligan by William Butler Yeats

The old priest Peter Gilligan
Was weary night and day;
For half his flock were in their beds,
Or under green sods lay.

Once, while he nodded on a chair,
At the moth-hour of eve,
Another poor man sent for him,
And he began to grieve.

'I have no rest, nor joy, nor peace,
For people die and die';
And after cried he, 'God forgive!
My body spake, not I!'

He knelt, and leaning on the chair
He prayed and fell asleep;
And the moth-hour went from the fields,
And stars began to peep.

They slowly into millions grew,
And leaves shook in the wind;
And God covered the world with shade,
And whispered to mankind.

Upon the time of sparrow-chirp
When the moths came once more.
The old priest Peter Gilligan
Stood upright on the floor.

'Mavrone, mavrone! the man has died
While I slept on the chair';
He roused his horse out of its sleep,
And rode with little care.

He rode now as he never rode,
By rocky lane and fen;
The sick man's wife opened the door:
'Father! you come again!'

'And is the poor man dead?' he cried.
'He died an hour ago.'
The old priest Peter Gilligan
In grief swayed to and fro.

'When you were gone, he turned and died
As merry as a bird.'
The old priest Peter Gilligan
He knelt him at that word.

'He Who hath made the night of stars
For souls who tire and bleed,
Sent one of His great angels down
To help me in my need.

'He Who is wrapped in purple robes,
With planets in His care,
Had pity on the least of things

Asleep upon a chair.' 

Figures of Speech

    A figure of speech or rhetorical figure is a word or phrase that intentionally deviates from ordinary language use in order to produce a rhetorical effect. 

Figures of Speech may be classified as under: 

1. Those based on resemblance:

• Simile

• Metaphor

• Personification

• Apostrophe

2. Those based on Contrast: 

• Antithesis

• Epigram

• Oxymoron 

• Paradox

 3. Those based on Association: 

• Metonymy

• Synecdoche

4. Those depending on construction: 

• Climax

• Anticlimax