Figurative Language Terms

From William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet:
“Death lies on her like an untimely frost upon the sweetest flower of the field” (IV.v.33-34).  

• Personification
• Metaphor
• Simile
• Onomatopeoia 

Tags

CCSS.L.3.5A

CCSS.RL.3.4

"I had also developed my own culture. Work. I did four or five media jobs in England, juggling them like a clown."
- Tuesdays with Morrie

• Metaphor
• Simile
• Allusion 
• Allusion

Tags

CCSS.L.7.5A

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

The repetition of initial consonant sounds.

• Assonance 
• Alliteration
• Allusion
• Allegory 

Tags

CCSS.L.4.5

CCSS.L.5.5

CCSS.L.6.5

CCSS.RL.2.4

CCSS.RL.7.4

Comparison of two unlike things using like or as. 

• Metaphor
• Personification
• Hyperbole 
• Simile 

Tags

CCSS.L.4.5A

CCSS.L.5.5A

CCSS.RL.5.4

CCSS.W.11-12.2D

A reference to something in history, mythology, literature, etc., which the author expects the reader to recognize. 

• Alliteration
• Allusion
• Onomatopoeia
• Metaphor

Tags

CCSS.L.7.5A

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

An intentional exaggeration for effect.

• Imagery
• Metaphor
• Alliteration 
• Hyperbole 

Tags

CCSS.L.11-12.5A

Using words that appeal to the five senses or proper nouns and adjectives to help the reader visualize the person, place, thing, or idea being described. 

• Idiom
• Imagery
• Figurative language
• Literal language

Tags

CCSS.L.4.5

CCSS.L.5.5

CCSS.L.6.5

CCSS.L.7.5

CCSS.L.8.5

The use of a word whose sound imitates or suggests its meaning. 

• Hyperbole 
• Metaphor
• Onomatopoeia 
• Simile

Tags

CCSS.L.4.5

CCSS.L.5.5

CCSS.L.6.5

CCSS.L.7.5

CCSS.L.8.5

Giving human qualities to inhuman things. 

• Hyperbole 
• Specific details
• Personification 
• Metaphor 

Tags

CCSS.L.6.5A

From To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee:
“But it was a time of vague optimism for some of the people: Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself” (6).

• Alliteration
• Allusion
• Personification
• Simile

Tags

CCSS.L.7.5A

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RL.8.4