Language of poetry I Similarity - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Language of poetry I

Similarity

Contrariety

Affiliation

Imagination

Images

It

is a language that convey meaning through 'painted words' or creating 'mental pictures.' The words that enable us to covey these 'mental pictures' are what we call imagery

.

This simply means that things and issues in life are better understood when compared or contrasted with other things. This idea of comparison heightens or diminishes the mental pictures or images being expressed.

Example: A

: He is a man. B: He is a guy.

Figures of Similitude

The figures of speech listed here attempt to compare two or more objects or ideas based on their similarity with certain qualities they possess.

Simile,

metaphor

,

parable

,

allegory

,

fable

,

symbol

,

antonomasia

,

Simile

This

is a comparison between the qualities or attributes of two things. This type of comparison is normally introduced with words like 'as' or 'like.' For example:

Great water drops are

dribbling/

Falling like orange or mango

('Night

Rain'by

J.P.Clark

)

Metaphor

This is a comparison of the qualities or attributes of two things that are not similar. Metaphor operates on the principle of equation. In other words in metaphor the identity of one thing is transferred to another in order to create images. For example: Nefertiti is a rose.

In this example, the qualities of rose are compared with that of a woman.

Naett

. coin of gold, shining coal, you my night, my sun! (from L.S. Senghor's'/ will Pronounce your name)

Parable & Allegory

A parable Is a short story told with a view to drawing the

attention

of the hearer to its comparative idea.

Allegory:

A long extended comparison in which one subject is described in great details but signifies another meaning.

FableThis is very similar to allegory. The major difference is that the characters are often animals or supernatural beings. Furthermore the story is normally told with a clear moral lesson in mind. A popular example is George Orwell's Animal Farm which is supposedly a story about animals in a farm, but has the extended meaning of narrating the diverse

behaviour

of man in society.

Symbol

This is a representation of an idea(s) with certain objects or words. For instance, a red light at a road intersection becomes a symbol if it triggers off the idea of danger in the minds of drivers and pedestrians. Nevertheless if it only causes drivers to stop without putting their minds on the idea of

daeger

, it functions simply as a sign. When a symbol is used in literature, the purpose is to give it a meaning which goes beyond the physical representation. For example, the cross is a symbol for Christianity.

Antonomasia

Antonomasia

This is a figure of speech wherein the name of a well-known person, place or event is used to represent some qualities which it

symbolises

.

Figures of Contrareity

words that suggest opposing views in meaning in order to achieve a literary effect. It is a very effective and emphatic way of making a point.

Antithesis

,

parallel

,

epigram

,

oxymoron

,

paradox

,

climax

Antithesis

Antithesis

It is the repetition of grammatically similar words, phrases of opposed or contrary meaning in a sentence. This is also referred to as balanced sentence. This grammatical device may be stretched over several paragraphs. *

Examples:

'While the ignorant condemn learning, the learned condemn ignorance.'

'Fair is foul, foul is fair...'

Parallel, Epigram, Oxymoron

Parallel

This is an extended antithesis, but a prolonged comparison that brings out the contrast between two persons or things. Example:

How far that little candle throws its beam! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.

Epigram

This is a brief witty saying that sounds contradictory at first, but upon further investigation is found to be full of truth Example: 'More haste, less speed.' Other examples are:

Afraid

of death, the world dies; Afraid of love, people die Afraid of light, roses die.

(

Ossie

Enekwe

, From 'No Death at all," Broken Pots)

Oxymoron

This is placing close together, two words or statements that are apparently contradictory in meaning in order to achieve an effect.

Example:

Gentle winged butterfly

With the voiceless cry by day

(From

Lenrie

Peters' She came in silken Drapes)

Paradox

Paradox

This is very much like an epigram. It is a statement that seems absurd or senseless on the surface but turns out to possess some truth on a second consideration. For example let us consider these lines from William Wordsworth's 'My Heart leaps up'

My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky; So was it when my life began; . So is it now I am a man; So be it when I shall grow old, Or let me die!

The Child is father of the Man

;

OR

Did

you forget justice. — Do you kill me When am already dead I, who was small and strong Now am big and weak

I, who was young and wise Now am old and foolish.

(From '

Amadioha

will answer1 by

Ezenwa

Ohaeto

)

Climax

Climax

This is the arrangement of terms, words or statements to express an idea in ascending order of importance to build to a crescendo or height.

Let us take a look

at

“TERROR” by Peter

Onwudinjo

Who can tell the terror

In the flight

Of the wrenched-off heads in spray,

Or the grotesque stagger of the head

Less trunk in flight

Oh Lord how he ran!

How he fell! how he slumped!

Figures of Affiliation

Synecdoche,

metonymy

,

hypallage

,

allusion

,

Synecdoche & Metonymy

Synecdoche

This is a representation of one thing with its part or the whole is used to represent the part. The part used in representing the whole must be an important part and must be directly associated with it in order to bring out the full meaning of the whole. Example:

All hands shall be on deck 'Hands' here represent people.

Metonymy

This is a representation of an

object with

something

closely

associated with it. These objects include things they are known by things they normally wear, symbol of their authority or tools of their profession. In metonymy people are replaced by the objects they are normally associated with. Example:

'

Agbada

has submerged this country into the depths of corruption.' '

Agbada

': a metonymy for politicians.

Hypallage & Allusion

Hypallage

or Transferred Epithet

This is a figure of speech in which the qualifying adjective is transferred from a person to a thing. From the poem 'Stanley meets

Mutesa

' we see the following example:

The thin weary line of carriers

With tattered dirty rags to cover their backs

The highlighted line is an example of

hypallage

. It is noteworthy that it is not the 'line' that is 'weary,' but the 'carriers.' Under 'normal' sentence construction, that line should have been:

'The thin line of weary carriers.'

Allusion

This is a reference to some well-known events, places or persons in classical or great books like the Bible. Classical allusions are references to events in classical literature of the Greeks, Rome and some other ancient empires.

She came in silken drapes And naked breasts, Veiled Artemis, seated On an eagle's nest

(

Lenrie

Peters' She came in silken Drapes)

Figures of Imagination

Personification

,

apostrophe

,

invocation

,

hyperbole

,

Personification

Personification

This figure of speech is derived by giving inanimate or non- movable objects the qualities of a human being. These include attributes that human beings are endowed with or functions that animate objects can perform.

Example:

Cattle Egret My children gather stars Into their soft songs And woo the young moon With their teeth.

The

moon kisses

My daughter's emerging breasts And my son's dimples.

(

Okot

p'Bitek

, From A Selection of African Poetry)

Apostrophe

Apostrophe

This is a direct address to person, inanimate object or being as if it is present before the addressee. Apostrophe is a kind of personification in which one talks to a non-lining thing as if it were a human being and a person who is absent at a place as if he were within hearing distance. It is a kind of address. The speaker can address an abstract concept, a non-human, a living person or a dead person as if that person is there with the speaker. Let us consider the following

example:

DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not

soe

,

From

John Donne's

‘Death

be not

Proud’)

Invocation

Invocation

This imagery is closely related to apostrophe. In the use of invocation, a being, god or dead person is directly addressed and appealed to or told to do something for the benefit of himself/itself, or the living. For example:

Okigbo

Come like thunder

Okigbo

,

Come

from the soil of Africa Like only a black man can

Shake the cold souls from their graves

Okigbo

,

Shake them till the ice melts like rain

Into the blooded earth.

(Peter J. Bradford from

Don’t Let him

Die

)

Poetry is fun

Thank You