Medducation: Language, Literature & Life
More often than not, literal language just doesn't cut it. It works great for very simple statements, but when you need to say something more complicated than "pass the poutine", you likely want some help from some handy figurative comparisons.
Anytime you try to express what you are feeling emotionally, for example, literal language just won't do. The reason is that all of our emotions are abstract concepts that we tend to feel in very unique and personal ways. 'Angry' for one person, for example, might mean they feel like frowning, while 'angry' for another person could mean something that makes them bloody their knuckles as they punch holes in a wall.
Think of figurative language as being like an algebra equation. Whenever you run into an unknown or changing number in an equation, you use a letter (like 'x') to represent the unknown variable.
In language, all abstract words, ideas, experiences and emotions need to be treated exactly like variables in algebra. In order to fully understand anyone, you need to figure out all of the figurative variables they choose to use.
Figurative
Language:
Figurative language is a great idea for explaining complex emotions, like love. The sketch of a heart in a lightbulb on red paper (above) uses figurative language (visual symbols are also 'language') to express the exact same idea.
The Figurative Basics:
You should always use the most 'academic' and reliable resources you can get your hands on. Whenever you're dealing with a literary term like, 'figurative language', you're best to check with an official source like Abrams' "A Clossary of Literary Terms" or the free, online site for the Carson-Newman College literary dictionary (click here to visit the site).
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE: A deviation from what speakers of a language understand as the ordinary or standard use of words in order to achieve some special meaning or effect. Perhaps the two most common figurative devices are the simile--a comparison between two distinctly different things using "like" or "as" ("My love's like a red, red rose")--and the metaphor--a figure of speech in which two unlike objects are implicitly compared without the use of "like" or "as." These are both examples of tropes. Any figure of speech that results in a change of meaning is called a trope. Any figure of speech that creates its effect in patterns of words or letters in a sentence, rather than twisting the meaning of words, is called a scheme. Perhaps the most common scheme is parallelism. For a more complete list of schemes and tropes, see the schemes and tropes pages.
Figurative Language Explained:
All the big definitions in two songs
Video resources like these can be amazing resources when you're trying to learn a new concept. But . . . that's only the case if you're watching them ACTIVELY. This means you're listening to the words, reading the text onscreen, that you're thinking about each new word and its examples and that you are watching each one more than once. It takes several viewings for everyone before they get the full message.
