Rachel Anderson Date: 2/15/18 Analyzing Figurative Language For this essay I will be analyzing the poem “A Voice” by Pat Mora. The theme of this poem is that you must speak up for what you believe is right, despite your fear, and despite how long it has taken you to do so. Pat Mora used similes and metaphors to convey the tone of the poem, which is that of pride in her mother. The first type of figurative language Pat Mora used that I would like to touch on is metaphors. “The family story says your voice is the voice of an aunt in Mexico, spunky as a peacock.” Mora uses this metaphor of her mother’s voice being that “of an aunt in Mexico, spunky as a peacock” to illustrate how fearless her mother is when it comes to speaking up. Through
The voice of the narrator in the poem, “Ode to American English”, by Barbara Hamby uses the first person point of view, irony, and character voice to openly communicate about the uniqueness and criticism of the English language. First, the use of first person point of view creates a distinctive internal voice of the character. The author states, “I miss the mongrel plentitude of American English, its fall-guy, rat-terrier, dog-pound neologisms, the bomb of it all, the rushing River Jordan backwoods mutability of it” (83). Hamby writing her poem from the first person point of view is the same thing as using voice, because the way she portrays herself through the poem seems like she was directly speaking to me. Secondly, through the use of irony,
The author of Red Umbrella and the author of A Band-Aid For 800 Children both use figurative language, such as in Red Umbrella the use a hyperbole ‘’My head spun. Leave Cuba? Tomorrow?’’ this shows that Lucy is confused or overwhelmed about having to leave her parents. As well in A Band-Aid For 800 Children the author used a metaphor ‘’Every child is also a job” to show that Sandigo has a task that that she
Albert Marrin uses a great amount of figurative language, such as personification, and word choice in order to narrate this historical event and make the text more dramatic and powerful. In paragraph one and two, it states, "a cutter flicked a hot ash or tossed a live cigarette butt into a scrap bin... Flames shot up, igniting the line of hanging paper patterns. " Marrin's word choice in these sentences makes the story more powerful because he used the words "flicked" and "igniting" instead of words like threw or catching fire. Also, Marrin uses a lot of figurative language.
Jimmy S.Baca use of metaphors, similes, imagery, diction, tone and mood are used in a very effective way in his essay Coming into Language. His use of metaphors and similes really give the reader a visual, helping develop imagery. Baca’s use of imagery paints pictures in the reader’s head but also develops a type of emotion by the use of diction. The word choice used provides the reader with an understanding of where the author is coming from leading us into tone and mood. The author’s tone starts off very low but by the end of the essay you will feel very satisfied.
So many people in modern society have lost their voices. Laryngitis is not the cause of this sad situation-- they silence themselves, and have been doing so for decades. For many, not having a voice is acceptable socially and internally, because it frees them from the responsibility of having to maintain opinions. For Janie Crawford, it was not: she finds her voice among those lost within the pages of Zora Neale Hurston’s famed novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. This dynamic character’s natural intelligence, talent for speaking, and uncommon insights made her the perfect candidate to develop into the outspoken, individual woman she has wanted to be all along.
Figurative language is when you use words or a phrase that do not have a regular, everyday literal meaning and is used by almost all authors in their writings. Authors use figurative language to make their works more interesting and more dramatic. Examples of figurative language include metaphors, similes, personification and hyperbole. Helena Maria Viramontes uses figurative language all throughout her novel Under the Feet of Jesus. In the opening paragraphs of the novel Viramontes uses imagery to set the scene for her readers, she really makes us feel as if we are riding along in the station wagon with Estrella and her 6 other family members. In this scene she describes to her readers reflects on the hardships that this family, and people
In the novel, “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, he describes parts of his war experiences through the stories told throughout the book. O’Brien discusses the gory detailed chaos of the Vietnam war and his fellow “soldiers.” As O’Brien gives detail of the his “fictional” experiences, he explains why he joined the war. He also describes a time where his “character” wanted to escape a draft to Canada.
What is figurative language? Figurative language is saying something other than what is meant for effect. For example a metaphor, simile, symbol, hyperbole or personification. In the sermon called Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God and the Iroquois Constitution there is a lot of figurative language.
There are several times in life where people have to be determined to surmount their challenge. Paying the monthly rent, trying to get a promotion, or shooting the game winner to win the finals or to get in the playoffs. There are some downfalls from being determined, but being determined is a crucial character trait that people need. That's why being determined is a common theme in writings. Common themes are explored in literature because they can be explained in different ways of forms, and there the most important lessons to learn. Nobody wants to read a book with an unnecessary and unsatisfying life lesson since they are common they are used more than once.
The voices also state “you are mine,” as if taking ownership of each other and themselves (Morrison 256). The necessity of the efforts of a community to self-ownership is fully demonstrated when the women of the community gather to sing. The women’s voices join together to create a “music” which is “without words,” escalating into a “wave of sound” that “broke the back of words” (Morrison 306-308). By uniting their voices, the community is able to break the bondage, or “back,” of the words defined by the white men. Sethe is “baptized in its wash,” finally able to break out of the bondage of her memories (Morrison 308).
The speaker chooses that he wants to be a writer rather than what his father does since he had “…no spade to follow men like them.” The speaker uses emotion to put himself down while praising his elders. The speaker does not retain the meanings or the cravings to live as his family did and decides to use his pen to write instead. The speaker creates art based on his emotion about his family which allows a connection for the audience to relate
Metaphor can also be used to make the writing more interesting. Simile is another figurative language A simile is a figure of speech that compare two things simile and metaphor are similars. Simile use almost the same words such as like or as simile and metaphor are often confused with each other.
Ross, Steven M. ""Voice" in Narrative Texts: The Example of As I Lay Dying." PMLA94.2 (1979): 300-10. JSTOR. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.
The use of Onomatopoeia as well as repetition help the capture the readers attention. One of the first examples of figurative language comes when Myers chooses
Philosophers tend to think literal speech is the default; however, common speech is littered with metaphors and other figurative elements. Within metaphors, the two things often differ categorically, yet the sentence is not only intelligible it may even be illuminating and express an important truth. But how do we understand metaphorical meaning as readily as we do?