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 images from American writer Mary Grimm…. I’d never before read any of the work of Mary Grimm, pictured above, a professor of English […]
The figurative language of Mary Grimm…. Read More »
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 from Craig Brown…. I’m not normally terribly interested in what the royal family might be up to. But when I heard (via
The figurative language of Craig Brown…. Read More »
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 from writer Ellen Barry…. Ellen Barry is a London-based international correspondent for The New York Times, covering immigration, security, demographics and culture
The figurative language of Ellen Barry… Read More »
Reading time: About 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about the metaphorical language of Ottessa Moshfegh…. Ottessa Moshfegh is an American author and novelist who was born in Boston with a Croatian mother and an Iranian-Jewish father.
The figurative language of Ottessa Moshfegh… Read More »
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 metaphors from Jo Hamya… Joyce Hamya is a young British novelist from East London, born to a Polish mother and a Ugandan father. She graduated
The figurative language of Jo Hamya… Read More »
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 Taffy Brodesser-Akner…. Taffy Brodesser-Akner is is an American journalist and author. She became a full-time staff writer for The New York Times
The figurative language of Taffy Brodesser-Akner Read More »
Reading time: About 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about metaphors from Dennis Lehane….. American author Dennis Lehane has published more than a dozen novels and achieved fame not just as a novelist but as someone whose
The figurative language of Dennis Lehane Read More »
Reading time: About 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about metaphors from Elena Ferrante…. I came late to the Elena Ferrante parade. The pseudonymous Italian novelist published the first of her four famous novels — known collectively
The figurative language of Elena Ferrante… Read More »
Reading time: About 2 minutes I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about similes from John Vaillant…. John Vaillant is a writer and journalist who was born and raised in Massachusetts and has lived in Vancouver since 1998. His work has appeared
The figurative language of John Vaillant…. Read More »
Reading time: About 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about metaphors from Claire Keegan…. Claire Keegan is an Irish writer known for her short stories, which have been published in The New Yorker, Best American Short Stories, Granta, and The Paris
The figurative language of Claire Keegan… Read More »
