Imagery and Figures of Speech

1. Imagery and Figures of Speech

2. Imagery • Imagery – Vivid language that addresses the senses • Can be used to convey emotions and moods Ezra Pound (1885-1972) In a Station of the Metro The apparition of these faces in the crowd Petals on a wet, black bough

3. Imagery William Carlos Williams The Red Wheelbarrow so much dependsupon a red wheelbarrow glazed with rainwater beside the whitechickens.

4. Metaphors • A metaphor is a comparison between two unlike things. – Types are: • Simile – an explicit comparison between two things using comparison words such as “like, as, than, appears, or seems” • Metaphor – often uses a verb to assert the identity of dissimilar things. • ex. 1 – Life is but a walking shadow (Macbeth) • Ex. 2 – Her heart was iron in her breast (The Odyssey)

5. Metaphors To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. Macbeth V.v.19-28

6. Metaphors • Implied metaphors – a metaphor that hints or alludes to the comparison, but does not make it explicitly • “He brayed his refusal to leave” • Extended Metaphor – using a series of related metaphors or similes to develop an overall comparison • Controlling Metaphor – a single comparison that serves as a poem’s organizing principle

7. Metaphors “Chess” by Rosario Castellanos Because we were friends and sometimes loved each other, perhaps to add one more tie to the many that already bound us, we decided to play games of the mind. We set up a board between us: equally divided into pieces, values, and possible moves. We learned the rules, we swore to respect them, and the match began. We've been sitting here for centuries, meditating Ferociously how to deal the one last blow that will finally annihilate the other one forever.

8. Other Figures of Speech • Pun – a play on words that relies on a word having more than one meaning or sounding like another word • “Pragmatist” by Edmund Conti Apocalypse soon Coming our way Ground zero at noon Halve a nice day.

9. Other Figures of Speech • Synecdoche (examples complements of Wikipedia) • A figure of speech in which a part of something is used to signify the whole. • Describing a complete vehicle as "wheels" • Use of the names England (only one of the four constituent nations) or Great Britain (the geographical name of the main island) to mean the entire United Kingdom. • Use of Holland, a region of the Netherlands, to refer to the entire country. • "truck" for any four-wheel drive vehicle (as well as long-haul trailers, etc.) • "John Hancock" for the signature of any person • a genericized trademark, for example "Coke" for any variety of cola or "Band-Aid" for any variety of adhesive bandage • "bug" for any kind of insect or arachnid, even if it is not a true bug • "glasses" for spectacles • "plastic" for a credit card (asking a merchant) Do you take plastic?

10. Other Figures of Speech • Metonymy • Something closely associated with a subject is substituted for it Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears. I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him Julius Caesar, III,iii,280-281

11. Metonymy Continued (complements of Wikipedia) • Sometimes, metaphor and metonymy can both be at work in the same figure of speech, or one could interpret a phrase metaphorically or metonymically. For example, the phrase "lend me your ear" could be analyzed in a number of ways. One could imagine the following interpretations: • Analyze "ear" metonymically first — "ear" means "attention" (because we use ears to pay attention to someone's speech). Now, when we hear the phrase "lending ear (attention)", we stretch the base meaning of "lend" (to let someone borrow an object) to include the "lending" of non-material things (attention), but, beyond this slight extension of the verb, no metaphor is at work. • Imagine the whole phrase literally — imagine that the speaker literally borrows the listener's ear as a physical object (and the person's head with it). Then the speaker has temporary possession of the listener's ear, so the listener has granted the speaker temporary control over what the listener hears. We then interpret the phrase "lend me your ear" metaphorically to mean that the speaker wants the listener to grant the speaker temporary control over what the listener hears. • First, analyze the verb phrase "lend me your ear" metaphorically to mean "turn your ear in my direction", since we know that literally lending a body part is nonsensical. Then, analyze the motion of ears metonymically — we associate "turning ears" with "paying attention", which is what the speaker wants the listeners to do.

12. Synecdoche and Metonymy The Hand That Signed the Paper The Hand That Signed the Paper By Dylan Thomas 1914–1953 Dylan Thomas The hand that signed the paper felled a city;    Five sovereign fingers taxed the breath,    Doubled the globe of dead and halved a country;    These five kings did a king to death. The mighty hand leads to a sloping shoulder,    The finger joints are cramped with chalk;    A goose’s quill has put an end to murder    That put an end to talk. The hand that signed the treaty bred a fever,    And famine grew, and locusts came; Great is the hand that holds dominion over    Man by a scribbled name. The five kings count the dead but do not soften    The crusted wound nor stroke the brow;    A hand rules pity as a hand rules heaven;    Hands have no tears to flow.

13. Other Figures of Speech • Personification – the attribution of human characteristics to nonhuman things • The angry storm blew down my house • The angry dog bit my hand • The evil dog ate my spaghetti • The Martian ate my spaghetti

14. Other Figures of Speech • Apostrophe – an Address either to someone who is absent and therefore cannot hear the speaker or to something nonhuman that cannot comprehend “To A Wasp” Janice Townley Moore You must have chortled finding that tiny hole in the kitchen screen. Right into my cheese cake batter you dived, no chance to swim ashore, no saving spoon, the mixture whirling your legs, wings, stinger, churning you into such delicious death. Never mind the bright April day. Did you not see rising out of cumulus clouds that fist aimed at both of us?

15. Other Figures of Speech • Hyperbole (overstatement) – an exaggeration that adds emphasis without intending to be literally true. • Understatement – a statement that says less than is intended To His Coy Mistress (excerpts) Andrew Marvell An hundred years should go to praise Thine eyes and on they forhead gaze, Two hundred to adrore each breast, But thirty thousand to the rest: The grave’s a fine and private place, But none, I think, do there embrace.

16. Other Figures of Speech • Paradox – a statement that initially appears to be self-contradictory, but that, on closer inspection, turns out to make sense • The pen is mightier than the sword • This statement is false • “I can resist anything except temptation” – Oscar Wilde • Oxymoron – a condensed form of paradox in which two contradictory words are used together • Sweet sorrow, silent scream, sad joy, cold fire • Jumbo shrimp • Microsoft Works

17. Other Figures of Speech