I know I risk sounding like an English teacher when I use the words “figurative language.” The phrase may sound frightening but figurative language will make your writing more interesting evocative and memorable. And who doesn’t want that –even in non-fiction? Here are some examples of figurative language:
• allusion
• hyperbole
• metaphor
• oxymoron
• personification
• paradox
• simile
I read widely and follow many forms of media, keeping my eyes and ears attuned to figurative language so I can share a piece of it with you each week.
Reading time: Less than 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of similes and metaphors from Casey Cep…. I was introduced to writer Casey Cep when I read her New Yorker article headlined, “We can’t afford to lose the Postal Service.” […]
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Reading time: Just over 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of metaphors and similes from Mark Salzman… There are two reasons to read the excellent 2012 book The Man in the Empty Boat written by Mark Salzman. First, it tells
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Reading time: Just over 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of similes and metaphors from Gail Caldwell…. I wrote recently about a New York Times piece by Gail Caldwell, an American critic and winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for
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Reading time: Less than 2 minutes I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of metaphors and similes from Robin Sloan…. I’ve been a moderately serious home cook for many years — always baking cakes from scratch and putting up annual preserves. But
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Reading time: About 2 minutes I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about metaphors from Susan Orlean… I’ve been a fan of Susan Orlean for many years. But with the publication of her aptly-named memoir, Joyride, I’ve become a bone fide superfan. I loved every
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Reading time: Less than 2 minutes I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of metaphors and similes from Lily King… I don’t know whether to be delighted or alarmed that the Artificial Intelligence lurking inside my Kindle has figured out which types
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Reading time: Less than 2 minutes I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of metaphors and similes from Taffy Brodesser-Akner…. I have a friend who used to tell me his favourite movie — by an unbelievably overwhelming margin — was Top Gun.
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Reading time: Less than 2 minutes I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of metaphors and similes from Elizabeth Wetmore… Before devoting herself to writing, Elizabeth Wetmore tended bar, taught English, drove a cab, edited psychology dissertations, and painted silos and cooling
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Reading time: Just over 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about similes and metaphors from Casey Cep… Typically, when I find figurative language, the writing is somewhat flowery. I mean that in a good way, of course, although flowery language doesn’t suit
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Reading time: Just over 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of images from chef and writer Gabrielle Hamilton… I read a piece in the April 23/20 New York Times that knocked my socks off. Written by chef Gabrielle Hamilton
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