Personification and Hyperbole

When we use literal language, we use words for their most strictly true definitions. When we use figurative language, words may not be used for their strict definitions. Instead, we may use words more symbolically to create a particular effect or express a feeling. We often use figurative language to add drama or humor to writing and speech. It can also make descriptions more clear and powerful.

Read the following passage.

Winnie spent hours each day that summer at the beach. She’d listen to the ocean and feel the wet sand under her toes as she stood at the shoreline. The sun warmed her skin, and she watched children swimming, but she didn’t go into the water herself. That was the August when Winnie’s world began crumbling around her. She was twelve, and soon she would turn thirteen. She had just moved to this quiet seaside town. She missed the crowds and the lights and even the noise of traffic in the big city where she’d lived until that July. More than anything else, she missed her friends. She’d stay at the beach until the sky was a dark bruise above her and the last of the children had disappeared into their homes.

Which sentence from the passage contains figurative language?

• A “Winnie spent hours each day that summer at the beach.”

• B “She was twelve, and soon she would turn thirteen.”

• C “That was the August when Winnie’s world began crumbling around her.”

• D “She’d listen to the ocean and feel the wet sand under her toes as she stood at the shoreline.”

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Figures of speech are different ways to use figurative language. A metaphor makes a comparison by saying that one thing is another. A hyperbole is an exaggeration. Personification is another figure of speech. When a writer personifies, he gives something nonhuman a human trait or ability.

Read the following passage.

At the end of the debate tournament, Samantha was a tornado of emotion. Why hadn’t she done more to prepare like Patricia suggested? She was mad at Patricia, and mad at Mr. Atkinson and, more than anything else, she was mad at herself. In the cafeteria, strangers congratulated one another and talked loudly about their matches. The girl with the short, red hair high-fived a tall boy wearing a suit jacket, and they smiled at each other. Samantha found a table that was empty and sat down. Her shame insulted her continuously with a sharp voice. It had been the worst rebuttal in the history of competitive debate. She was sure of that.

Which detail from the passage contains an example of personification?

• A “In the cafeteria, strangers congratulated one another and talked loudly about their matches.”

• B “... Samantha was a tornado of emotion.”

• C “It had been the worst rebuttal in the history of competitive debate.”

• D “Her shame insulted her continuously with a sharp voice.”

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Personification can make your writing more powerful, emotional and vivid. You can personify anything that isn’t human: an object--like money or a mountain--an idea--like greed or peace--and even a living thing--like a spider or a tree. Just be sure that thing is or does something a plant or animal can’t literally do.

Which revision to the sentence below uses personification to make the imagery more vivid?

The morning was humid and gray, but it did not rain.

• A: The stubborn sky held tightly to her dark clouds, and the morning passed without rain.

• B: The weather was bad that morning.

• C: The morning was as hot and humid as a rainforest.

• D: The weather was so unbearable, all we could do that morning was pray for rain.

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When you find an example of personification, you should stop and consider some aspects of the text. What does this figure of speech mean in this context? What does the author reveal by giving that particular nonhuman object that particular human ability? What can you infer about the text or the characters from the choice of words and details?

In the sentence below, what is the purpose of the phrase "the stars winking at him"?

Read the following sentence.

Alvaro walked in a buzz of excitement, with the stars winking at him the whole way home.

• A: This phrase means that there are actually eyes in the sky winking at Alvaro.

• B: This phrase shows that the stars make Alvaro feel lucky and special.

• C: This phrase shows that Alvaro sees things that aren’t real.

• D: This phrase shows that Alvaro is very afraid of the dark.

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Personification can contribute to many elements of a story, including its theme or mood. Mood is a story’s overall feeling or atmosphere. In the song, the rapper gives two examples of how personification can create a mood.

Read the passage below.

"Edwin’s grandmother didn’t get angry when she saw the horrible mess in the kitchen. In fact, she decided to take part in the fun. She put the peas on her spoon, bent the spoon back and flung them toward Edwin before he even saw that she was there. They landed with a SPLAT on his glasses and he looked up, surprised. “Gran?” he said. “What on Earth…?” In a matter of minutes, the rest of the vegetables were dancing all around them like performance artists. The carrots somersaulted like gymnasts, and the string beans moved in the wide arcs of leaping ballerinas."

What does the personification add to this passage?

• A: The personification in this passage helps create a mood that is humorous and playful.

• B: The personification in this passage helps create a mood that is romantic and loving.

• C: The personification in this passage helps create a mood that is anxious and scary.

• D: The personification in this passage helps create a mood that is gloomy and sad.

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When we use literal language, we are using words according to their dictionary definitions. They mean exactly what they say. When we use figurative language, we are using words and phrases to mean something other than their literal meaning to make a particular point.

Read the following passage.

Kwame loves reading. Every time he opens a new book, it's like a window into a new world. From reading, he has learned about pirates, NASA engineers and the Civil War, and that's just in the last month. His current book is a mystery. He can't wait to find out what happens next.

Which detail from the passage is an example of figurative language?

• A "Kwame loves reading."

• B "His current book is a mystery."

• C "...it's like a window into a new world"

• D "He has learned about pirates, NASA engineers and the Civil War…"

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There are different kinds of figurative language. A simile compares two things using the word "like" or "as." A metaphor also compares two things but doesn't use "like" or "as." It states the comparison directly. Hyperbole stretches out a comparison, to the point where it cannot possibly be true, using extreme exaggeration or overstatement. Exaggeration means making something seem better or worse than it actually is.

Which of the following is an example of hyperbole?

• A: He is so lazy that he bought paper plates so that he'd never have to wash dishes.

• B: He is the laziest man in the entire universe.

• C: He is as lazy as a sloth.

• D: He is a couch potato.

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Writers can use hyperbole to add humor or drama to their work. Hyperbole can be funny! Here's an example from the hip-hop artist Cassidy:

"If you cats wore my chain for a month you'd be hunchback." This funny exaggeration makes a point about how big Cassidy's chain is; it wouldn't literally make a person a hunchback.

Hyperbole can also add drama. Here's an example from the novel Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery: "I could never express all my sorrow, no not if I used up a whole dictionary. I deserve to be punished and cast out by respectable people forever." The narrator is exaggerating for dramatic effect to convey how much sorrow she feels.

Read the following passage.

It was a cold day. We had to put on boots and coats and scarves to go outside.

Which of the following revisions uses hyperbole to add humor?

• A: Icicles hung like daggers from the rooftops, and we pulled our scarves tight and walked quickly down the street.

• B: The snow was a white blanket on the front lawn, and the bare tree branches snapped under the frozen weight.

• C: It was so cold that even a polar bear would have needed to wear a coat and scarf to go outside.

• D: It was one of the coldest days of that winter, and the cold wind kept blowing through the night.

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Writers can also use hyperbole to emphasize a point. If a character is really hungry, an author could write, "She was very hungry." But that might not really convey just how hungry the character is. An author could use exaggeration to emphasize the feeling by writing, "She was so hungry, she could eat a horse." It might not literally be true, but the character's hunger becomes more clear, and more interesting!

Read the following passage.

When Janice forgot her speech in front of the whole class, she was embarrassed.

Which of the following revisions uses hyperbole to emphasize Janice's embarrassment?

• A: When Janice forgot her speech in front of the whole class, she was so embarrassed she wanted to crawl into a dark cave for a million years.

• B: When Janice forgot her speech in front of the whole class, she cried silently at her desk for a few minutes out of embarrassment.

• C: When Janice forgot her speech in front of the whole class, her eyes got teary and her voice shook.

• D: When Janice forgot her speech in front of the whole class, her face turned almost as red as a tomato.

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You can find hyperbole everywhere. It's in advertisements that tell you something is "the best in the world." It's in tabloids that tell you something is the "biggest scandal ever." It's in literature, especially in tall tales. Tall tales are American folk tales that involve fanciful or greatly exaggerated plot elements. The heroes of these stories are usually larger than life, like Paul Bunyan. Paul Bunyan is said to have been so big that he wore wagon wheels for buttons, and his footprints became lakes. Other tall tale heroes have superhuman abilities. John Henry is said to have worked faster than a locomotive. The plots of these stories are funny and impossible, like the story of Pecos Bill who lassoed a tornado and rode it like a horse.

Read the following passage from The Marvelous Exploits of Paul Bunyan by W. B. Laughead:

"They could never keep Babe more than one night at a camp for he would eat in one day all the feed one crew could tote to camp in a year. For a snack between meals he would eat fifty bales of hay, wire and all, and six men with picks were kept busy picking the wire out of his teeth."

What is the purpose of hyperbole in this passage?

• A: to add urgency and drama to the story

• B: to convey true details about Babe the Big Blue Ox

• C: to make a more entertaining story through humorous exaggeration

• D: to show the reader that Babe the Big Blue Ox really was the hungriest ox in the world

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