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: About 2 minutes I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of metaphors from Sebastian Barry… Sebastian Barry is an Irish novelist, playwright and poet, who was named Laureate for Irish Fiction, 2019–2021 and who has […]
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Reading time: About 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 Shelby Van Pelt. Author Shelby Van Pelt, pictured above, grabbed my attention when I learned she had written a novel
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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 similes and metaphors from Dwight Garner… My two big hobbies are reading and cooking. So imagine my reaction when I heard about the subtitle of Dwight Garner‘s
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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 a series of metaphors from Edward Chisholm… I first heard about writer Edward Chisholm on my favourite food podcast, Milk Street. Chisholm is an Englishman who graduated
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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 some similes and metaphors from Michael Finkel… Michael Finkel knew he wanted to be a writer from the age of 10. Unlike many writers, however, he
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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 a series of metaphors from Jessica Winter… An editor at The New Yorker, where she also writes about family and education, Jessica Winter is the author of
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Reading time: About 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of similes from Sigrid Nunez…. Sigrid Nunez, pictured above, was only a moderately successful American fiction writer until she won the 2018 US National Book
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Reading time: About 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 C Pam Zhang… C Pam Zhang is an American writer who was born in Beijing China and who moved to the US
The figurative language of C Pam Zhang Read More »
Reading time: Less than 2 minutes I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about similes and metaphors from Lisa Halliday…. Lisa Halliday (pictured above) became celebrated for her first novel, Asymmetry. It appeared on many top 10 book lists including
The figurative language of Lisa Halliday… Read More »
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 images from American novelist Andrew Sean Greer…. One of the top five books I read in 2018 was the Pulitzer-Prize-winning comic novel Less,
The figurative language of Andrew Sean Greer… Read More »
