7.3 Figurative Language & Literary Devices
Key Takeaways
- Figurative language employs non-literal comparisons, acoustic devices, and sensory descriptions (similes, metaphors, personification, hyperbole, idioms, onomatopoeia, alliteration, imagery) to enrich narrative depth and evoke emotional resonance.
- Point of view establishes narrative perspective: First Person (subjective participant using I/we), Third Person Limited (external narrator confined to one character's psyche), and Third Person Omniscient (all-knowing narrator accessing multiple characters' thoughts).
- Tone reflects the author's or narrator's attitude toward the subject matter or audience, whereas Mood represents the emotional atmosphere experienced by the reader.
- Advanced narrative devices—including Foreshadowing, Flashbacks, Symbolism, and Irony (Verbal, Situational, Dramatic)—deepen thematic complexity and require explicit analysis of authorial craft.
- English Learners (ELs) and students with language processing deficits frequently interpret idioms literally; effective instruction requires dual-illustration scaffolds (contrasting literal vs. figurative meanings) and explicit cultural context instruction.
7.3 Figurative Language & Literary Devices
Core Principle: Authors utilize figurative language and literary devices to transcend literal exposition, craft vivid sensory imagery, establish emotional tone, and communicate abstract thematic truths. Interpreting non-literal language is a sophisticated inferential skill. Readers must recognize that words are not operating in their standard denotative sense, deconstruct the underlying figurative comparison or authorial technique, and synthesize the author's intended connotations within the narrative context.
On the Foundations of Reading Test (FoRT Objective 0006), candidates must demonstrate comprehensive knowledge of figurative language categories, differentiate nuances in narrative point of view, distinguish between tone and mood, explain complex literary techniques (symbolism, irony, foreshadowing), and design evidence-based scaffolds for English Learners (ELs) and struggling readers who interpret idioms literally.
The Spectrum of Figurative Language: Core Categories
Figurative language departs from literal word definitions to achieve poetic effect, sensory resonance, or heightened meaning.
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE TAXONOMY │
│ │
│ 1. SIMILE ──► Explicit comparison using 'like' or 'as' │
│ 2. METAPHOR ──► Direct comparison asserting X IS Y (tenor/veh) │
│ 3. PERSONIFICATION──► Attributing human traits/agency to non-human │
│ 4. HYPERBOLE ──► Deliberate, extreme exaggeration for effect │
│ 5. IDIOM ──► Culturally fixed, non-literal phrase │
│ 6. ONOMATOPOEIA ──► Words that phonetically imitate real sounds │
│ 7. ALLITERATION ──► Repetition of initial consonant sounds │
│ 8. SENSORY IMAGERY──► Language appealing to the 5 physical senses │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Comprehensive Reference Guide to Figurative Language
| Device | Exact Definition | Concrete Literary Example | Analytical Deconstruction & Author's Craft | Common Student Misconception |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simile | An explicit comparison between two fundamentally dissimilar entities using connecting words such as like, as, resembles, or than. | "The dry desert wind felt as hot as an open furnace blast against our faces." | Compares desert wind to an open furnace to emphasize the suffocating, dangerous heat of the environment. | Students occasionally assume any sentence containing the word like is a simile (e.g., "I like ice cream" is a literal preference, not a simile). |
| Metaphor | An implicit, direct comparison asserting that one object, person, or concept is another entirely distinct entity without using like or as. Composed of the Tenor (subject) and Vehicle (figurative image). | "The classroom was a bustling beehive of industry as the science fair approached." | Tenor: The classroom. Vehicle: A beehive. The author conveys organized, intense, buzzing collective productivity. | Confusing metaphor with literal description; struggling readers may imagine actual insects in the classroom. |
| Personification | A specialized figurative device where non-human objects, animals, abstract concepts, or natural forces are endowed with human characteristics, emotions, or intentional actions. | "The ancient oak tree groaned and reached its skeletal wooden fingers toward the stormy sky." | Endows the tree with human anatomy (fingers) and vocal distress (groaned) to establish an ominous, eerie atmosphere. | Students may believe trees have literal skeletal anatomy or conscious feelings. |
| Hyperbole | Intentional, gross exaggeration used for rhetorical emphasis, heightened dramatic emotion, or comic effect; never intended to be taken literally. | "I have told you a million times to clean your room, and my backpack weighs a thousand pounds!" | Exaggerates numerical frequency (a million times) and physical mass (a thousand pounds) to convey extreme frustration and fatigue. | Literal-minded students may argue that it is mathematically impossible to speak a million times. |
| Idiom | A culturally fixed, figurative expression whose holistic meaning cannot be deduced by examining the literal definitions of its individual constituent words. | "Don't spill the beans before the surprise party," or "She felt under the weather." | Spill the beans means to disclose a secret prematurely; under the weather signifies feeling mildly ill. | English Learners and neurodivergent students frequently interpret idioms literally (e.g., looking for dropped beans on the floor). |
| Onomatopoeia | Words whose phonetic pronunciation acoustic-matches or imitates the natural sound associated with the object or action denoted. | "The bees buzzed, the dry twigs snapped underfoot, and the bacon sizzled in the iron pan." | Recreates acoustic reality in the reader's auditory imagination, enhancing sensory immersion and pacing. | Misclassifying general action verbs as onomatopoeia unless the word itself mimics the sound produced. |
| Alliteration | The repetition of identical initial consonant phonemes in closely positioned neighboring words. | "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers," or "The soft summer sea slipped silently onto the sand." | Creates musical rhythm, acoustic cohesion, and mnemonic resonance; softens or sharpens the mood. | Confusing alliteration (sound repetition) with rhyme (end-syllable vowel-coda repetition). |
| Sensory Imagery | Highly descriptive language that evokes vivid sensory representations across the five physical senses: Visual (sight), Auditory (sound), Olfactory (smell), Gustatory (taste), Tactile (touch), and Kinesthetic (movement). | "The aroma of warm cinnamon apples wafted through the crisp autumn air as dried leaves crunched beneath our boots." | Engages olfactory (cinnamon), thermal (crisp), and auditory (crunched) sensory channels to build a rich mental model. | Treating imagery as purely visual; imagery encompasses all five physical senses. |
Point of View: Narrative Perspective & Constraints
Point of View (POV) defines the narrative lens through which the story is communicated to the reader. Point of view establishes which character thoughts are accessible and determines the objectivity or subjectivity of the storytelling.
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ POINT OF VIEW CLASSIFICATION │
│ │
│ 1. FIRST PERSON (I, me, my, we) │
│ • Narrator is a character inside the story │
│ • Intimate, subjective, potential Unreliable Narrator │
│ │
│ 2. SECOND PERSON (You, your) │
│ • Speaks directly to reader (rare in fiction; choose-your-own-adv) │
│ │
│ 3. THIRD PERSON LIMITED (He, she, they) │
│ • External narrator restricted to ONE focal character's mind │
│ • Reader only knows what that single character sees, thinks, feels │
│ │
│ 4. THIRD PERSON OMNISCIENT (He, she, they) │
│ • All-knowing external narrator │
│ • Accesses thoughts, feelings, and motives of MULTIPLE characters │
│ • Can reveal past background, simultaneous events, or future facts │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Analytical Distinctions for the FoRT Exam
- First Person vs. Third Person Pronoun Rule: Pronoun inspection must occur in the narrator's exposition, not within dialogue spoken by characters inside quotation marks (e.g., a third-person story where a character says "I love bread" remains third person).
- Limited vs. Omniscient: If the narrator reveals the private, internal anxieties of Sarah in Chapter 1 and then enters the private, internal thoughts of the antagonist in Chapter 2, the POV is Third Person Omniscient. If the reader only knows what Sarah perceives and must deduce the antagonist's feelings from external dialogue, it is Third Person Limited.
- The Unreliable Narrator: In first-person narratives, authors sometimes create young, biased, naive, or deceptive narrators whose interpretations of events differ from reality (e.g., The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! by Jon Scieszka). Teaching students to identify narrator unreliability develops critical evaluative comprehension.
Tone vs. Mood: The Critical Conceptual Distinction
A perennial source of confusion on the FoRT is the precise distinction between Tone and Mood:
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ TONE vs. MOOD │
│ │
│ TONE = AUTHOR'S ATTITUDE MOOD = READER'S ATMOSPHERE │
│ ┌─────────────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ The author/narrator's │ │ The emotional climate, │ │
│ │ attitude toward the │ CREATES │ feeling, or atmosphere │ │
│ │ subject, characters, or │ ────────► │ evoked within the │ │
│ │ audience. │ │ reader by the text. │ │
│ │ (Diction, word choice) │ │ (Setting, descriptive) │ │
│ └─────────────────────────┘ └─────────────────────────┘ │
│ Descriptors: Sarcastic, Descriptors: Melancholic, │
│ objective, reverent, solemn, eerie, cheerful, suspenseful, │
│ cynical, affectionate, playful. foreboding, peaceful, tense. │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
- Instructional Mnemonic:
- Tone comes from the Typewriter (the Author's voice/attitude).
- Mood is in Me (the Reader's emotional state).
Advanced Structural Literary Devices
Proficient literary analysis requires students to identify sophisticated authorial craft techniques that shape plot dynamics and thematic depth:
1. Foreshadowing
- Definition: The author's use of subtle hints, symbolic omens, or predictive dialogue early in the narrative to suggest events that will occur later.
- Function: Builds suspense, prepares the reader for shocking plot twists, and establishes causal inevitability.
- Example: In the opening chapter, a character remarks that "the rotting floorboards in the old lighthouse haven't held weight in fifty years," foreshadowing a climactic collapse in Chapter 12.
2. Flashbacks (Analepsis)
- Definition: An interruption in the chronological narrative flow to present an episode or memory that occurred prior to the story's start.
- Function: Provides vital psychological backstory, illuminates character trauma or motivation, and clarifies current conflicts without clumsy exposition.
3. Symbolism
- Definition: An author's deliberate use of a concrete object, person, animal, or color to represent an abstract concept, virtue, or emotional state.
- Example: A caged bird representing the character's yearning for freedom; a wilting rose representing lost hope; a lighthouse representing guidance through moral confusion.
4. The Three Types of Irony
| Type of Irony | Defining Characteristics | Narrative Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Verbal Irony | A character or narrator intentionally states the exact opposite of their true meaning (sarcasm is a common spoken form). | Stepping into a torrential thunderstorm and declaring: "What glorious, delightful picnic weather we have today!" |
| 2. Situational Irony | An event or outcome occurs that is the direct, diametric opposite of what was reasonably expected by both characters and readers. | A fire station burning down to the ground because all the firefighters left their cooking unattended. |
| 3. Dramatic Irony | The reader or audience possesses critical, privileged knowledge of events or dangers that the characters within the story do not know. | The reader knows the disguised old peddler woman is the evil queen holding a poisoned apple, but Snow White trusts her completely. |
Evidence-Based Scaffolds for English Learners & Struggling Readers
Figurative language presents significant hurdles for English Learners (ELs) and students with language impairments because it violates standard literal word translations.
1. Dual-Illustration Idiom Scaffolding
To prevent confusion, teachers provide a split-frame graphic organizer contrasting the Literal Visualization with the Figurative Meaning:
┌──────────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────┐
│ LITERAL PICTURE (Wrong) │ FIGURATIVE MEANING (Real) │
├──────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
│ [Drawing of a person physically │ [Drawing of a student studying │
│ hitting a heavy book with a │ intensely at a desk with notes │
│ fist: "HIT THE BOOKS"] │ and flashcards: "Study Hard"] │
├──────────────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────┤
│ Context Sentence: "Exam week is coming, so I need to hit the books." │
│ Real Meaning: To study diligently for an extended period of time. │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
2. The 3-Step Metaphor Deconstruction Routine
When guiding students to interpret dense metaphors:
- Step 1: Identify the Tenor and Vehicle: "What two things is the author comparing? (e.g., 'My father was an anchor during the storm') $\rightarrow$ Father and an Anchor."
- Step 2: Brainstorm Attributes of the Vehicle: "What does a real anchor do? It is heavy, strong, stays in one place, and stops a ship from drifting away or crashing."
- Step 3: Map the Attributes to the Subject: "How is the father like an anchor? He kept the family calm, grounded, safe, and strong during a difficult crisis."
Read the following excerpt from a narrative: 'Elena watched the storm clouds gather over the mountain ridge, her heart pounding with silent dread as she wondered if her family would reach safety in time. Across the valley, Mr. Henderson locked his barn doors with grim satisfaction, confident that his spiteful actions would finally force Elena's father to sell the farm.' Which narrative point of view is utilized in this passage?
A fifth-grade teacher is preparing a literature unit that contains numerous figurative idioms such as 'spill the beans', 'cost an arm and a leg', and 'barking up the wrong tree'. The class includes several intermediate English Learners who consistently interpret these phrases literally. Which of the following instructional activities would provide the most effective pedagogical scaffold for these students?
A middle-school English teacher is guiding students to analyze authorial craft in Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Tell-Tale Heart'. The teacher asks: 'How does Poe's use of frantic, repetitive diction and frantic pacing reflect the narrator's attitude, and how does that differ from the creepy, suspenseful atmosphere felt by the reader?' This question is guiding students to distinguish between which two literary concepts?
In a narrative, the reader is informed in Chapter 2 that the treasure chest buried beneath the lighthouse was emptied by pirates thirty years ago. In Chapter 8, the protagonist spends all his life savings to purchase diving gear and travels across the ocean, eagerly anticipating discovering the gold. Which literary device is the author utilizing to generate suspense and tension?