Unit 1: Introduction to Creative Writing

Lesson 1.3
Figurative Language and Literary Devices in Creative
Writing
Contents
Introduction 2

Learning Objectives 3

Let’s Begin 3

Discover 5
Imagery 5
Visual Imagery 6
Auditory Imagery 7
Olfactory Imagery 8
Gustatory Imagery 9
Tactile Imagery 11
Kinesthetic Imagery 12
Organic Imagery 12
Figures of Speech 13
Simile 14
Metaphor 15
Synesthesia 15
Oxymoron 17
Irony 19
Personification 20
Apostrophe 21
Allusion 21
Metonymy 22
Synecdoche 23
Anaphora 24
Hyperbole 24
Litotes 25
Pun or Paronomasia 26

Wrap-Up 27
Unit 1: Introduction to Creative Writing

Try This! 28

Practice Your Writing Skills 29

Bibliography 31

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Unit 1: Introduction to Creative Writing

Lesson 1.3

Figurative Language and Literary

Devices in Creative Writing

Introduction
We, as human beings, are capable of understanding and perceiving the world around us. It
is possible because our body is designed to receive information through our sense organs.
Our eyes, nose, ears, tongue, and skin have functions that enable us to experience life and
create images based on what we know. With them, we enjoy life.

We also use our sense organs to experience the content of the imaginative texts we read.
Because we are capable of thinking in images, we have the power to transform words into

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experiences. Writers use this knowledge to allure and fascinate their target readers.
Therefore, as students of creative writing, you should be trained in how to use words to let
the readers perceive something they do not directly experience. Last time, we became
familiar with diction as a literary device. In this lesson, we will discuss how imagery and
figures of speech can help you to produce a text that appeals to the reader’s senses.

Learning Objectives DepEd Learning Competency

At the end of this lesson, you should be able to use
In this lesson, you should be able to do the imagery, diction, figures of speech, and specific
following: experiences to evoke meaningful responses from
readers (HUMSS_CW/MP11/12-Ia-b-4).
● Identify the use of imagery in
texts.
● Be familiar with the types of
imagery.
● Identify the different figures of
speech.
● Use imagery and figures of
speech in an original work.

Let’s Begin

Do I Sense Something? 10 minutes

Our sense organs help us to perceive the world around us. These organs enable us to see,
hear, smell, taste, and feel. Through words, you can allow somebody to experience what you
sensed directly. Let us see if you can do that.

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Instructions
The table below shows different situations we might encounter or experience in life. Cite
words or phrases that show how we perceive the things that might occur or are present in
these situations using the sense organs that we have. The first one is done for you.

Situation Eyes Ears Nose Tongue Skin

Black white the crowd the smelly the saltiness the

Nazarene hankies of noisy armpits of a of my own scorching
procession devotees man in the sweat heat of the
crowd sun

sightseeing in
Tagaytay City

a visit to the
public
cemetery

relaxing at a
mall by a bay

hiking with
friends

Guide Questions
1. How did you come up with the words and phrases that you put in the table?
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2. Do you think that the words and phrases you used can help the readers imagine the
provided situations? Explain your answer.
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3. Provide a specific rule that you think writers should follow when choosing words and
phrases that will help their readers perceive the situations they are describing.
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Discover
As you tried to complete the table, you were likely compelled to use a literary device that
stirs up the senses of your possible readers. Conscious or not, you used what is known as
imagery. According to Harmon and Holman (1996), imagery is “the collection of images in a
literary work” (263). It helps the readers create a mental picture of what they are reading.
Imagery can be utilized in a text by using descriptive and figurative language. It means that it
can only be employed in the text through the effective use of content words (e.g., nouns,
verbs, modifiers), and figures of speech. In this lesson, we will discuss the different types of
imagery and the figures of speech that employ this literary device.

What are the types of imagery? What figures of speech

can we utilize for us to effectively appeal to the readers’
senses, emotions, and feelings?

Imagery
Imagery is best understood as the literary device that enables the writers to paint a picture
using words. This strategy involves using a catalyst, or a trigger, to affect the readers’ senses,
emotions, and feelings. This catalyst is in the form of words, phrases, and sentences. In
writing, putting these catalysts into a text means giving off sensory details to the readers.

Incorporating sensory details into the text brings it to life. The connection of the writer to
the reader will be stronger because of it, since the latter, through sensory details, can
personally experience what the former wants to illustrate to him or her. The text can only be

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proven to have a universal quality if it succeeds in providing an inviolable bond between

them.

We should be familiar with the seven types of imagery we can use in creating an imaginative
text. These are the following: visual imagery, auditory imagery, olfactory imagery, gustatory
imagery, tactile imagery, kinesthetic imagery, and organic imagery. Each of them gives a
different sensory experience to the readers. Let us discover what they can contribute to the
universal quality of a text.

Check Your Progress

What is imagery? How does it help to bring a text to life?
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Visual Imagery
Visual imagery appeals to the reader’s sense of sight. The writers make use of this type of
imagery by incorporating color, size, shape, brightness, and pattern in the text to describe a
person, place, or object. Let us take a look at the excerpt below and see how it utilizes visual
imagery.

It was a rimy morning, and very damp. I had seen the damp
lying on the outside of my little window, as if some goblin rimy
had been crying there all night, and using the window for a (adjective): frosty
pocket-handkerchief. Now, I saw the damp lying on the bare
hedges and spare grass, like a coarser sort of spiders’ webs;
hedges
hanging itself from twig to twig and blade to blade. On every
(noun):
rail and gate, wet lay clammy, and the marsh mist was so
boundaries
thick, that the wooden finger on the post directing people to
formed by rows of

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our village—a direction which they never accepted, for they small trees or
never came there—was invisible to me until I was quite close shrubs
under it. Then, as I looked up at it, while it dripped, it
clammy
seemed to my oppressed conscience like a phantom
(adjective): damp
devoting me to the Hulks.
and cool

An excerpt from Great Expectations

Charles Dickens

The excerpt shows how Dickens creatively used descriptive language and visual imagery to
amplify the readers’ experience of the events that happen in the narrative. He employed
adjectives to highlight the setting of the story. For instance, he used the words damp,
clammy, and rimy so the readers can visualize how humid and unpleasant the morning was.
Then, to enable the readers to see the mistiness of the narrator’s surroundings, he did not
just tell the reader outright that it is foggy. Instead, he used the signpost, or more
specifically, its wooden finger, to show that the fog is too thick for the narrator to see much.
He said that the signpost’s finger was invisible to him until he went closer to it. To “show and
not tell” is one of the most important precepts of creative writing.

In the excerpt, Dickens also made use of simile, a figure of speech for comparisons, to
illustrate the effect of the weather on the environment. Phrases such as “as if some goblin
had been crying there all” showcase the effectiveness of using a simile to describe an entity
or an object vividly.

Auditory Imagery
Auditory imagery appeals to the reader's sense of hearing. The writers make use of this
type of imagery by employing sound, noise, music, and silence in the text. They might also
use onomatopoeic words to extend the reader’s auditory experience. This can be achieved
by reading the text aloud. Let us take a look at the excerpt below and see how it utilizes

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auditory imagery.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?

gnats (noun):
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—
small biting flies
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn sallows
Among the river sallows, borne aloft (noun):
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies; broad-leaved
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn; willows (tree)
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
bourn (noun)
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.
a place or domain

An excerpt from “To Autumn”

John Keats

This excerpt shows how Keats amplified the poem using his knowledge of auditory imagery.
First, he used nouns such as music, choir, and songs to introduce the poem as full of aural
images. Then, he used the verbs bleat, sing, whistles, and twitter to describe the sound
animals produce. Some of these words are onomatopoeic. It means that they are formed as
representations of the sounds that they describe.

Olfactory Imagery
Olfactory imagery appeals to the reader’s sense of smell. The writers make use of this type
of imagery by giving the readers a detailed description of what the character, narrator, or
speaker smelled, whether it is a pleasant or unpleasant scent. Let us take a look at the
excerpt below and see how it utilizes olfactory imagery.

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The winter evening settles down

With smell of steaks in passageways.
Six o'clock.
gusty
The burnt-out ends of smoky days.
(adjective):
And now a gusty shower wraps
blowing in gusts (a
The grimy scraps
sudden brief rush
Of withered leaves about your feet
of wind)
And newspapers from vacant lots;
The showers beat
On broken blinds and chimney-pots, grimy

And at the corner of the street (adjective):

A lonely cab-horse steams and stamps. covered in dirt

And then the lighting of the lamps.

An excerpt from “Preludes”

T. S. Eliot

The first four lines of this excerpt from one of Eliot’s poems demonstrate how olfactory
imagery can be employed in a text. The phrases “the smell of steaks in passageways” and
“the burnt-out ends of smoky days” do not only relay the theme of the poem but also make
the readers imagine the smell of steaks and burnt cigarettes. In this way, Eliot showed
rather than told his readers the destruction of the environment caused by rapid and
careless modernization.

Gustatory Imagery
Gustatory imagery appeals to the reader’s sense of taste. The writers make use of this type
of imagery by providing the readers a detailed description of what the character, speaker, or
narrator tasted, like sweetness, spiciness, and bitterness. Let us take a look at the excerpt
below and see how it utilizes gustatory imagery.

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I can see the blue clusters of wild grapes hanging amongst

the foliage of the saplings, and I remember the taste of foliage
them and the smell. I know how the wild blackberries (noun): a cluster
looked, and how they tasted; and the same with the of leaves of a plant
pawpaws, the hazelnuts and the persimmons; and I can feel
the thumping rain, upon my head, of hickory-nuts and
pawpaws
walnuts when we were out in the frosty dawn to scramble
(noun): papayas
for them with the pigs, and the gusts of wind loosed them
and sent them down. . . . I know the look of an apple that is
roasting and sizzling on a hearth on a winter's evening, and I hearth
know the comfort that comes of eating it hot, along with (noun): fireplace
some sugar and a drench of cream.

An excerpt from Chapters from My Autobiography

Mark Twain

Twain effectively used gustatory imagery to make his readers desire the taste of the foods
he mentioned in the excerpt above. Those who have read the phrases “blue clusters of wild
grapes,” “the pawpaws, the hazelnuts and the persimmons,” and “some sugar and a drench
of cream” might feel hungry after devouring the entire paragraph.

Check Your Progress

Create a set of sentences that contains visual, auditory, olfactory,
and gustatory imagery. There should be at least one sentence for
each imagery mentioned.
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Tactile Imagery
Tactile imagery appeals to the reader’s sense of touch. The writers make use of this type of
imagery by incorporating what a person may physically feel, such as texture, temperature,
and other sensations such as pain and pressure in the text. Let us take a look at the excerpt
below and see how it utilizes tactile imagery.

When glided in Porphyria; straight

She shut the cold out and the storm, grate (noun):
And kneeled and made the cheerless grate fireplace
Blaze up, and all the cottage warm;

An excerpt from “Porphyria’s Lover”

Robert Browning

In this excerpt, notice how Browning uses tactile imagery to allow the readers to feel the
warmth of the cottage. It states that Porphyria’s presence made the cottage cozy. Browning
showed rather than told this to the reader by stating that “she shut the cold out,” and that
when she kneeled, she “made the cheerless grate blaze up,” which literally means the fire in
the fireplace grew stronger due to her presence. This gives the reader the feeling of warmth
that she brought to the narrator despite the cold brought about by a violent storm.

Writing Tip
A thesaurus, or a dictionary of synonyms, is a useful tool to discover
words that can more clearly portray the image you wish to impart to
the reader. Do you have a thesaurus at home?

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Kinesthetic Imagery
Kinesthetic imagery appeals to the reader's sense of motion. The writers make use of this
type of imagery by describing the motion or movement of someone or something in the
text. Let us take a look at the excerpt below and see how it utilizes kinesthetic imagery:

At this, through all his bulk an agony

lithe (adjective):
Crept gradual, from the feet unto the crown,
flexible or easily bent
Like a lithe serpent vast and muscular
Making slow way, with head and neck convuls'd
From over-strained might...

An excerpt from “Hyperion I”

John Keats

In this excerpt, notice how Keats used kinesthetic imagery for the readers to become aware
of and imagine the feelings of muscle tension and exhaustion. He also used a simile through
the phrase “like a lithe serpent vast and muscular” for them to realize the pain or agony that
someone might feel from the involuntary contraction of his or her muscles.

Organic Imagery
Organic imagery appeals to the reader’s internal sensations, feelings, and emotions. The
writers make use of this type of imagery by describing them in the text. Internal sensations
include hunger, thirst, and fatigue, while internal feelings and emotions include love, fear,
happiness, and sadness. Let us take a look at the poem below and see how it utilizes organic
imagery:

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So was I once myself a swinger of birches.

And so I dream of going back to be. birches (noun):
It’s when I’m weary of considerations, slender trees that
And life is too much like a pathless wood grow in north
temperate regions

An excerpt from “Birches”

Robert Frost

In this excerpt, Frost’s intention is for the readers to feel the desire and longing to go back in
time to when they were children—where everything seems unproblematic. Because of this,
they might also feel the weariness that being an adult brings.

Check Your Progress

Create a set of sentences that contains tactile, kinesthetic, and
organic imageries. There should be at least one sentence for each
imagery mentioned.
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Figures of Speech
Writers create imagery through the use of figurative language. According to Harmon and
Holman (1996), figurative language is the “intentional departure from the normal order,
construction, or meaning of words.” It incorporates one or more figures of speech.

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Figures of speech are “the various strategic and creative uses of language that deviates from
its conventional order, construction, or meaning.” Some writers agree that it is synonymous
with the terms rhetorical figures and tropes, though other references show that these terms
are not similar. Because of this, we will use the term figures of speech as the generic term for
these concepts. In this sub-lesson, we will review some figures of speech and use them to
create imaginative texts.

Simile
Simile is a figure of comparison that directly expresses the similarity between two objects. It
is usually presented in the text through the use of the words as or like. It may also be
expressed using the words resemble, compare, and liken. Take a look at the example shown
in the text below.

Already! He sat as still as a mouse, in the futile hope that

futile
whoever it was might go away after a single attempt. But no,
(adjective):
the knocking was repeated. The worst thing of all would be
ineffective
to delay. His heart was thumping like a drum, but his face,
from long habit, was probably expressionless. He got up and
moved heavily towards the door. thumping
(verb): beating,
pounding

An excerpt from 1984

George Orwell

In this example, Orwell used the words as and like to introduce similes. He used the clause
“He sat as still as a mouse,” to describe to the readers that the character was motionless
while sitting, just like a mouse when it senses a predator. A bit later in the text, Orwell used
the clause “His heart was thumping like a drum.” to indicate that the character's heart was
beating as fast as a drum being rapidly beaten by a percussionist.

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Metaphor
Metaphor is a figure of comparison that is similar to simile, but without the use of words
such as like, as, resemble, compare, and others. According to Harmon and Holman (1996),
metaphor is an “analogy identifying one object with another and ascribing to the first object
one or more qualities of the second” (p. 315). Take a look at the example shown in the text
below.

Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul, perches (verb):
And sings the tune without the words, settles on a perch (a bar,
And never stops at all, or a resting place)

An excerpt from “Hope”

Emily Dickinson

In this example, Dickinson compared hope to a thing with feathers, presumably a bird. To
further understand how metaphor works in a text, let us use the terms tenor and vehicle.
The tenor in the excerpt is hope because it is the subject of the comparison. On the other
hand, the vehicle is the image that is utilized to describe hope, which is the bird. The whole
excerpt shows that hope, though unseen, is everlasting, just like a bird that never stops
singing its wordless tune no matter how hard life is.

Synesthesia
Synesthesia is a figure of speech that is commonly seen as a form of a simile. It is utilized in
a text by describing a sense using a word or phrase that is connected to other senses. Take
a look at the example shown in the text below.

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I have had a most rare vision. I have had a dream past the
wit of man to say what dream it was. Man is but an ass if he methought
go about t’expound this dream. Methought I was—there is (verb): it seemed
no man can tell what. Methought I was, and methought I to me
had—but man is but a patched fool if he will offer to say
what methought I had. The eye of man hath not heard, the
hath (verb):
ear of man hath not seen, man’s hand is not able to taste,
has/have
his tongue to conceive, nor his heart to report what my
dream was. I will get Peter Quince to write a ballad of this
dream. It shall be called ‘Bottom’s Dream’, because it hath no
bottom.

An excerpt from A Midsummer Night’s Dream

William Shakespeare

In this excerpt, Shakespeare utilized synesthesia by attributing sensations to sensory organs

that do not perceive them. Our eyes cannot hear. Our ears cannot see. Our hands cannot
taste. But why did Shakespeare put these words together? This play on words became his
tool to make the speaker more comical. The one who said those lines in the story is Bottom,
an overconfident man who thinks highly of himself. Because of his excessive self-confidence,
he always commits mistakes in using language.

Nevertheless, synesthesia is not just used to build a character. It also adds texture to the
way we sense things. For example, the word icy is normally related to the sense of touch,
but when we use it to describe a stare, it provides a new meaning. If you give someone an
icy stare, he or she might think that you are either fearsome or unpleasant.

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Check Your Progress

How do figures of comparison intensify the universal quality of a
text?
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Oxymoron
An oxymoron is a figure of contrast that combines two contradicting words or smaller
verbal units to get the reader’s attention. The word oxymoron is an oxymoron in itself. It
came from the Greek word oxumōron, meaning “sharp-dull.” Normally, oxymorons are
formed using two contrasting nouns, two contrasting adjectives, two contrasting adverbs, a
contrasting adjective, and a noun, or a contrasting adverb and a verb. Take a look at the
example shown in the text below.

It is an awful topic—but 't is not

My cue for any time to be terrific: prolific
For checkered as is seen our human lot (adjective): causing
With good, and bad, and worse, alike prolific growth
Of melancholy merriment, to quote
Too much of one sort would be soporific;—
soporific
Without, or with, offence to friends or foes,
(adjective): causing
I sketch your world exactly as it goes.
sleep

An excerpt from “Don Juan, Canto the Eighth”

Lord Byron

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In this excerpt, Lord Byron uses the oxymoron melancholy merriment to indicate the intimate
connection between sadness (melancholy) and happiness (merriment). This phrase
emphasizes the other lines of the poem that show the balance of oppositions, such as the
lines that contain the phrases “with good or bad,” “without or with,” and “friends or foes.” It
also helps the readers understand that humans are subject to both positive and negative
life experiences.

Paradox
Paradox is also a figure of contrast. However, unlike the oxymoron, this seemingly
contradictory statement may be proven to be true. Take a look at the example shown in the
text below.

I do repent; but heaven hath pleas’d it so,

scourge
To punish me with this, and this with me,
(noun): a bringer
That I must be their scourge and minister.
of others’ suffering
I will bestow him, and will answer well
The death I gave him. So again, good night.
I must be cruel, only to be kind: bestow
Thus bad begins, and worse remains behind. (verb): to apply,
One word more, good lady. give, or convey as
a gift

An excerpt from “Hamlet”

William Shakespeare

This poem contains the line “I must be cruel, only to be kind.” The words cruel and kind
contradict each other. However, if we analyze the context that supports the statement
Shakespeare wrote, we can understand what it means. The phrase means “to cause or inflict
pain to someone for his or her own good.” Hamlet, in the story, criticized his mother for

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marrying his uncle Claudius soon after his father’s death and warned her that nothing good
would come of it.

Irony
Irony, just like the oxymoron and the paradox, is a figure of contrast. Harmon and Holman
(1996) state that it is “a broad term referring to the recognition of a reality different from
appearance” (p. 277). There are three types of irony: verbal, situational, and dramatic.
Verbal irony is a figure of contrast in which the words conveyed by someone are the
opposite of what he or she intends to express. Situational irony, the next type of irony, is a
figure of contrast in which the situation or action that happened in the story is the opposite
of what is expected to occur. Dramatic irony, the last type of irony, is a figure of contrast in
which the readers know something in the story that the characters do not. Take a look at
the example shown in the text below.

A child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends,

and when the family dines alone, the fore or hind quarter fore or hind
will make a reasonable dish, and seasoned with a little (adjective): front
pepper or salt, will be very good boiled on the fourth day, or back
especially in winter.

An excerpt from “A Modest Proposal”

Jonathan Swift

This excerpt from Swift’s satirical essay exposes how cruel British policy was to the Irish at
the time of the text’s writing. He did not really mean to encourage the readers to do the
cannibalistic act of eating the Irish children; he only wanted them to realize how unfairly the
Irish were being treated and how severe the poverty in Ireland had become. By using an
unrealistic or hyperbolic scenario to express something dire and realistic, Swift sustains the
ironic tone of the piece throughout.

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Check Your Progress

How do figures of contrast intensify the universal quality of a text?
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Personification
Personification is a figure of representation that “endows animals, ideas, abstractions, and
inanimate objects with human form” (Harmon and Holman, 1996, p. 385). It means that
objects and creatures, through this figure of speech, can have human-like emotions,
characteristics, and actions. Take a look at the example below.

No night is now with hymn or carol blest.

Therefore the moon, the governess of floods, rheumatic
Pale in her anger, washes all the air, (adjective): related
That rheumatic diseases do abound. to a disease of the
bones and
muscles

An excerpt from A Midsummer Night’s Dream

William Shakespeare

Shakespeare used personification by having Titania, the speaker, give human-like qualities
to the moon. She considered the heavenly body as a woman, who has the ability to govern
the floods or the tides. She also states that the moon has feelings; that she can be angry and
fill the air with sickness.

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Apostrophe
Apostrophe is a figure of representation in which an absent or a nonexistent person, an
inanimate object, or an abstract quality is addressed directly in the text as if they are
present. Take a look at the example shown in the text below.

Oh! Stars and clouds and winds, ye are all about to mock me;
if ye really pity me, crush sensation and memory; let me nought
become as nought; but if not, depart, depart, and leave me (pronoun):
in darkness. nothing

An excerpt from Frankenstein, Or the Modern Prometheus

Mary Shelley

In this excerpt, we can see how Shelley made the narrator, Victor Frankenstein, speak to the
stars, clouds, and winds directly as though they could reply or act based on what he said to
them.

Allusion
Allusion is a figure of reference to mythological, literary, historical, biblical, scientific, or
political figures, events, places, or objects. The effectiveness of its execution in the text
depends on the shared knowledge of the writer and the reader about the subject that is
used as an allusion. Take a look at the example shown in the text below.

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Nothing Gold Can Stay

Robert Frost

Nature’s first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.
hue (noun):
Her early leaf’s a flower;
color
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief, subsides
So dawn goes down to day. (verb): becomes
Nothing gold can stay. less

The excerpt shows the word Eden, a biblical allusion. In the Bible, the term refers to the
name of the garden, or paradise, where Adam and Eve resided before they fell into sin.
Here, in the given poem, Frost mentioned Eden to explain that even the paradise that God
perfected “sank into grief,” or ended. The said allusion helps Frost to amplify his claim that
nothing lasts forever.

Metonymy
Metonymy is a figure of representation wherein the name of the object that is used in the
text is being substituted with a word that is closely related or associated to.

Why, he will look upon his boot and sing; mend the ruff and
sing; ask questions and sing; pick his teeth and sing. I know a ruff (noun): a
man that had this trick of melancholy sold a goodly manor large collar with
for a song. many folds.

An excerpt from All’s Well That Ends Well

Lesson 1.3. Figurative Language and Literary Devices in Creative Writing 22

Unit 1: Introduction to Creative Writing

William Shakespeare

In this excerpt, Shakespeare used the word song to refer to something that is cheap, or
inexpensive. During his days, a lot of street performers could be seen in the streets. Anyone
who wanted them to sing paid them small sums of money. Now, if someone sold his or her
manor for “a song,” or something that is cheap, it means that he or she is not aware of how
valuable it is.

Synecdoche
Synecdoche is a figure of representation in which a part of something signifies its whole or
the whole of something signifies its part. For example, the word wheel may refer to the word
car. Take a look at the other example shown in the text below.

The western wave was all a-flame

The day was well nigh done! betwixt
Almost upon the western wave (preposition):
Rested the broad bright Sun; between two
When that strange shape drove suddenly persons or objects
Betwixt us and the Sun.

An excerpt from “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

In this excerpt, Coleridge used the word wave to refer to the whole ocean. Therefore, the
phrase the western wave is defined as “the ocean that extends to the western horizon.”

Check Your Progress

Lesson 1.3. Figurative Language and Literary Devices in Creative Writing 23

Unit 1: Introduction to Creative Writing

How do figures of representation and reference intensify the

universal quality of a text?
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Anaphora
An anaphora is a figure of repetition in which the same word or phrase is repeated at the
initial part of two or more sentences, clauses, or lines. Take a look at the example shown in
the text below.

With thee, my love, hell itself were heaven.

With thee a prison would be a rose-garden. thee
With thee hell would be a mansion of delight, (pronoun): you
Without thee lilies and roses would be as flames of fire!"

An excerpt from “Where Love Is”

Rumi

At the beginning of the first three lines of the excerpt, notice that the phrase with thee is
repeated thrice. This highlights how important it is to Rumi to be with the person he loves.

Hyperbole
Hyperbole is a figure of exaggeration. According to Harmon and Holman (1996), it “may be
used to heighten the effect, or it may be used for humor” (258). Take a look at the example
shown in the text below.

Lesson 1.3. Figurative Language and Literary Devices in Creative Writing 24

Unit 1: Introduction to Creative Writing

I have been assured by a very knowing American of my

acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well fricassee
nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and (noun): meat or
wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; vegetable stew in
and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee, stock with white
or a ragoust. sauce

An excerpt from “A Modest Proposal”

Jonathan Swift

Aside from irony, hyperbole is also present in this satirical essay. The excerpt exaggerates
the concept of eating the children by clearly describing the different ways a child may be
cooked. This exaggeration enabled his readers to see that his suggestion is similar to what
the British did to the Irish people. They are “devouring” them, in the sense that the former is
using its power to drown the latter into poverty.

Litotes
Litotes is a figure of speech “in which a thing is affirmed by stating the negative of its
opposite” (Harmon and Holman 1996, 293). For example, the sentence “I am okay” means
that the speaker feels good. It is similar to the sentence “I am not unwell,” which is an
understatement of the first sentence. Litotes, put simply, is a way to state an expression of
affirmation without directly saying it. Take a look at the example shown in the text below.

No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door;

but 'tis enough, 'twill serve. Ask for me to-morrow, and you peppered
shall find me a grave man. I am peppered, I warrant, for this (verb): punished
world. A plague o' both your houses! Zounds, a dog, a rat, a
mouse, a cat, to scratch a man to death! a braggart, a rogue,

Lesson 1.3. Figurative Language and Literary Devices in Creative Writing 25

Unit 1: Introduction to Creative Writing

a villain, that fights by the book of arithmetic! Why the devil

braggart
came you between us? I was hurt under your arm.
(noun): a boastful
person

An excerpt from Romeo and Juliet

William Shakespeare

This excerpt shows the lines of Romeo’s friend, Mercutio, before he dies. He understates
that he received a critical wound from Tybalt.

Pun or Paronomasia
Pun, or paronomasia, is a play on words. This figure of speech is based on the utilization of
two or more words that have different meanings but give off similar sounds. Take a look at
the example shown in the text below.

“When we were little,” the Mock Turtle went on at last, more

calmly, though still sobbing a little now and then, “we went dull
to school in the sea. The master was an old Turtle—we used (adjective): slow to
to call him Tortoise—” understand

“Why did you call him Tortoise, if he wasn’t one?” Alice asked.

“We called him Tortoise because he taught us,” said the

Mock Turtle angrily: “really you are very dull!”

An excerpt from Alice in Wonderland

Lewis Carroll

Lesson 1.3. Figurative Language and Literary Devices in Creative Writing 26

Unit 1: Introduction to Creative Writing

This excerpt shows how pun can be used in an imaginative text. Because the word tortoise
and the phrase taught us sound similar, the Mock Turtle called their teacher, the old Turtle,
Tortoise.

Check Your Progress

How do anaphora, hyperbole, litotes, and paronomasia intensify
the universal quality of a text?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Now that you are already familiar with diction, imagery, and figures of speech, you are one
step closer to creating your own masterpiece.

Wrap-Up
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
● Imagery is the literary device that enables the writers to paint a picture using words.
This strategy involves using a catalyst, or a trigger, to affect the readers’ senses,
emotions, and feelings.
● There are seven types of imagery. These are visual imagery, auditory imagery,
olfactory imagery, gustatory imagery, tactile imagery, kinesthetic imagery, and
organic imagery. Each of them gives off different sensory experiences to the readers.
● Figures of speech are the various strategic and creative uses of language that deviate
from conventional order, construction, or meaning.
● Figures of speech are divided based on their function in the text. In this lesson, we
discussed figures of comparison (simile and metaphor), figures of representation or
reference (synecdoche, metonymy, personification, allusion, and apostrophe),
figures of contrast (oxymoron, paradox, and irony), and other figures (hyperbole, pun,
litotes, synesthesia, and anaphora.)
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Lesson 1.3. Figurative Language and Literary Devices in Creative Writing 27

Unit 1: Introduction to Creative Writing

Try This!
A. Identify the figure of speech used in the sentences below. Write the correct answer
on the provided space before each number.

_________________ 1. Come to me, Death! Save me from this agony!

_________________ 2. Aphrodite might become jealous of your godlike elegance.

_________________ 3. The door groans when you open it.

_________________ 4. If you don’t allow me to buy that bag right now, I’ll die.

_________________ 5. Every day, every week, every month I work.

_________________ 6. Listen to me! Don’t be a wall!

_________________ 7. Your voice isn’t bad. I like it.

_________________ 8. She’s a hot mess every time she comes home from work.

_________________ 9. I feed four mouths.

_________________ 10. Malacañang released a statement about the mayor’s death.

B. True or False. Write true if the statement is true; otherwise, write false.

_________________ 1. Gustatory imagery appeals to the sense of smell.

_________________ 2. Organic imagery is used in a text if it contains words that

appeal to the readers’ feelings and emotions.

_________________ 3. Auditory imagery appeals to the sense of hearing.

Lesson 1.3. Figurative Language and Literary Devices in Creative Writing 28

Unit 1: Introduction to Creative Writing

_________________ 4. Kinesthetic imagery is used in a text if it contains words that

appeal to the reader’s sense of movement.

_________________ 5. The words that are connected to temperature can be used

as tactile imagery in a text.

Practice Your Writing Skills

Create a quatrain (a four-line conventional poem that follows a rhyme scheme) using one
of the three writing prompts below. You will be graded according to the following criteria:
a. form
b. word usage
c. poetic techniques
d. grammar, spelling, and punctuation

1. Writing Prompt: How would you describe the Philippine government today?
Imagery: Use both visual and organic imagery.
Figure(s) of Speech: Use any figures of comparison (simile and/or metaphor).
2. Writing Prompt: What is jealousy?
Imagery: Use both auditory and kinesthetic imagery.
Figure(s) of Speech: Use any figures of contrast (oxymoron, paradox, and/or irony).
3. Writing Prompt: How would you describe your experiences during the COVID-19
pandemic?
Imagery: Use olfactory, gustatory, and tactile imagery.
Figure(s) of Speech: Use any figures of representation and reference (metonymy,
synecdoche, personification, apostrophe, and/or allusion).

Lesson 1.3. Figurative Language and Literary Devices in Creative Writing 29

Unit 1: Introduction to Creative Writing

_______________________________________________________________
Title
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Suggested Rubric for Grading

The rubric below is a suggested one. Your teacher may modify it based on your needs.
Consult your teacher for the final rubric.

Performance Levels

1 2 3 Suggested
Criteria Score
Beginning Proficient Advanced Weight
Proficiency Proficiency

Form The poem was not a The poem was a The poem was a
quatrain. It doesn’t quatrain, but it did quatrain. It has the
have the exact not have a rhyme exact number of
×3
number of lines and it scheme. lines and it has a
doesn’t have a rhyme rhyme scheme.
scheme.

Word Usage The writer struggled The writer The writer chose
to choose words that satisfactorily chose excellent words that
would highlight the words that help help highlight the ×3
images in the highlight the images images in the
quatrain. in the quatrain. quatrain.

Poetic The writer did not The writer used some The writer used all
use the required of the required of the required
Techniques
imagery and figures imagery and figures imagery and figures ×2
of speech in the of speech in the of speech in the
quatrain. quatrain. quatrain.

Grammar, The quatrain has The quatrain has one The quatrain has no
three or more errors to two errors in errors in grammar,
Spelling, and x2
in grammar, spelling, grammar, spelling, spelling, and
Punctuation and punctuation. and punctuation. punctuation.

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Unit 1: Introduction to Creative Writing

Total Possible Score 30

Teacher’s Feedback
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Bibliography
Harmon, William. and C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Prentice Hall, 1996.

MasterClass. “Poetry 101: What Is Imagery? Learn About the 7 Types of Imagery in Poetry
With Examples.” MasterClass. November 8, 2020.
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/poetry-101-what-is-imagery-learn-about-the-7
-types-of-imagery-in-poetry-with-examples#quiz-0

MasterClass, “Writing 101: What Is Figurative Language? Learn About 10 Types of Figurative
Language With Examples,” MasterClass, November 8, 2020.
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/writing-101-what-is-figurative-language-learn-
about-10-types-of-figurative-language-with-examples#quiz-0.

Nordquist, Richard, “The Top 20 Figures of Speech” ThoughtCo, accessed on April 11, 2021.
https://www.thoughtco.com/top-figures-of-speech-1691818.

Nordquist, Richard, “What Is Imagery (in Language)?” ThoughtCo, accessed on April 11, 2021.
https://www.thoughtco.com/imagery-language-term-1691149#:~:text=Imagery%20is
%20vivid%20descriptive%20language,in%20particular%20metaphors%20and%20si
miles.

Lesson 1.3. Figurative Language and Literary Devices in Creative Writing 31