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 metaphor from Ian McEwan. As a recent fan of novelist Ian McEwan, I’m now in the process of “back-reading.” That is, I’m searching for novels he wrote years ago but that I somehow […]
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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 from novelist Joshua Ferris… I read the novel To Rise Again at a Decent Hour — by Joshua Ferris — on the strength of a recommendation by a friend
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Reading time: Less than 1 minute I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about some splendid personification from William Boyd… I picked up the novel Brazzaville Beach, by William Boyd, at my local library entirely because it carried a handwritten note from one of the librarians,
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Reading time: Less than 1 minutes I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of metaphors and personification from novelist Sarah Waters. I’ve now read three Sarah Waters novels. The Paying Guests was not my favourite — not by a longshot. (Fingersmith earned that distinction.)
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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 glorious handful of metaphors from New York Times writer David Carr… I came of age during Watergate. The Senate Watergate committee began its nationally televised hearings in 1973 when I was
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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 simile from Frances Itani. Frances Itani is a Canadian fiction writer, poet and essayist who has published 14 books. Her 2012 title Remembering the Bones, was shortlisted for a Commonwealth Award. Her 2004 novel Deafening has already won that award
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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 metaphor from Ian McEwan… I’m a longtime fan of writer Ian McEwan. I found Atonement to be his best book ever, and I also appreciated Sweet Tooth. I even enjoyed On Chesil Beach
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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 some similes from Phyllis Rose. I am a profligate reader. I told you earlier that a friend of mine had given me a copy of The Shelf: Adventures in Extreme Reading by Phyllis Rose. Today,
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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 simile from Yiyun Li. I first heard about Chinese-American writer Yiyun Li and her book Kinder Than Solitude when I heard her interviewed on the CBC radio program, Writers and Company. Intrigued by the novel’s
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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 two similes from Lizzie Widdicombe… Call me naive, but I had never before heard of what’s called a Tough Mudder, which is a 10-to-12-mile obstacle race including fire pits, tightly enclosed spaces, mud baths and
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