ENGLISH GRAMMAR: Figures of Speech - part 1

frieda (60)in #steemiteducation • 7 years ago (edited)

Language is full of pictures, called figures of imagery. The first man who spoke of "the wing of a building" was thinking of a bird, and whoever first said "the clue to the problem" had in mind the thread or clew of silk by which Ariadne guided Theseus out of the labyrinth.

Wikipedia explains that personification is a figure of speech where human qualities are given to objects or ideas.

The picture has almost faded out of those two words, but new images are always being made. In fact, anybody who took a vow to speak literally (i.e. without figures) would soon long to take a vow of silence, and his friends would wish he had. How slow, how clumsy, how difficult it would be to say "fact or principle that serves as a guide, or suggests a line of inquiry, in any problem or investigation or study" everytime instead of "clue"; and, even if you took a paragraph to it, could you express all that leaps to the mind's eye when you read "She opened her pretty lips and sang like a pansy?"

Personification and Anthropomorphism

Image credit
Personification is much used in visual arts. In the arts, personification means to represent a non-human 'thing' as if it were human. Personification gives human traits and qualities, such as sensations, desires, emotions, speech and gestures, often by way of metaphor. E.g., "The tornado ran through town without a care." "The moon smiled upon the river." "The pencil danced across the paper." "Opportunity was knocking at her door." "At 5:00 the alarm clock sprang into life." In easy language, personification is just giving an example of a living being for a non-living thing. "The hare laughed at the tortoise." It is obvious that the hare cannot laugh, only people can. This is what is called personification.

Image credit
Another form of personification which is commonly used is found in storybooks where animals are attributed names or labels for recognition. We call this 'anthropomorphism.' Organisms may also be used as embodiment or incarnations of a concept. E.g., 'Loki' represents sin in the movie Thor.

Image credit
When comparing a person with an object are Anthropomorphism and Objectification.

Figures of speech are constantly used by people who don't know their names and neither people nor figures are any the worse for that. But, you are expected to know them.

Image credit