- "Literal language uses words exactly according to their conventionally accepted meanings or denotation." - "Figurative (or non-literal) language uses words in a way that deviates from their conventionally accepted definitions in order to convey a more complicated meaning or heightened effect."
The use of language that goes beyond the literal meaning of words in order to create imagery or convey abstract ideas.
Metaphors: A comparison between two unlike things that does not use the words "like" or "as".
Similes: A comparison between two unlike things that uses the words "like" or "as".
Personification: Giving human traits or qualities to non-human things.
Hyperbole: An exaggeration used for emphasis or effect.
Irony: The use of language to convey the opposite of its literal meaning.
Symbolism: The use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities.
Allusion: A reference to a well-known person, place, or event in literature or history.
Imagery: The use of language to create sensory impressions or pictures in the reader's mind.
Foreshadowing: Hints or clues about events that will happen later in the story.
Onomatopoeia: Words that imitate the sounds they represent.
Idioms: Phrases that have a different meaning from the literal meaning of the words used.
Euphemisms: A mild or indirect word or expression used in place of one considered to be too harsh or blunt.
Allegory: A story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.
Tone: The attitude of the author towards the subject matter or audience.
Mood: The emotional atmosphere or feeling created by the author's use of language.
Repetition: The intentional repeating of a word or phrase for emphasis or effect.
Alliteration: The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words.
Assonance: The repetition of vowel sounds within words.
Consonance: The repetition of consonant sounds within or at the end of words.
Simile: A comparison of two things using "like" or "as.".
Metaphor: A comparison of two things without using "like" or "as.".
Personification: Giving human qualities to non-human things.
Hyperbole: An exaggeration to emphasize a point.
Onomatopoeia: Words that represent sounds.
Allusion: A reference to a well-known person, place, or event.
Irony: When the opposite of what is expected happens.
Symbolism: The use of symbols to represent ideas or emotions.
Imagery: The use of words to create a picture in the reader's mind.
Alliteration: The repetition of the same sound at the beginning of neighboring words.
- "Literal and figurative language is a distinction within some fields of language analysis, in particular stylistics, rhetoric, and semantics."
- "Literal usage confers meaning to words, in the sense of the meaning they have by themselves, outside any figure of speech." - "It maintains a consistent meaning regardless of the context, with the intended meaning corresponding exactly to the meaning of the individual words."
- "Figurative use of language is the use of words or phrases that implies a non-literal meaning which does make sense or that could [also] be true." - "Figurative language is often created by presenting words in such a way that they are equated, compared, or associated with normally unrelated meanings."
- "Aristotle and later the Roman Quintilian were among the early analysts of rhetoric who expounded on the differences between literal and figurative language."
- "A comprehensive scholarly examination of metaphor in antiquity, and the way its early emergence was fostered by Homer's epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey, is provided by William Bedell Stanford, Greek Metaphor."
- "In 1769, Frances Brooke's novel The History of Emily Montague was used in the earliest Oxford English Dictionary citation for the figurative sense of literally; the sentence from the novel used was, 'He is a fortunate man to be introduced to such a party of fine women at his arrival; it is literally to feed among the lilies.'"
- "Within literary analysis, such terms are still used; but within the fields of cognition and linguistics, the basis for identifying such a distinction is no longer used." Please note that since the paragraph provided does not contain direct quotes, the responses are paraphrased based on the information presented.