Pines City Colleges

GENERAL EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

Course Number: Lit 101

Course Title: Literature of the Philippines

Modular Learning Guide # 3

Topic: Elements of poetry (Figures of Speech)

Figures of Speech:
Language that communicates ideas beyond the ordinary everyday meaning of words.
1. Simile= a stated comparison between two things that are actually unlike but have something in
common
= uses the word ‘as’ or ‘like’
Examples: (from Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere)
 But now I'm like a tree shorn of its limbs, a wandering fugitive, hunted like a wild animal
in the forest…
 Like an automaton with a broken motor, [Sisa] turned quickly on her heels, and without
seeing a thing, ran to hide.
 The coach rolls on, reeling like a drunkard on the rough terrain.
 The news surged like a jolt of electricity among the parasites, spongers, and freeloaders
that God, in his infinite goodness, has so lovingly multiplied in Manila.
 I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree. –Joyce Kilmer
2. Metaphor = an implied comparison between two unlike things that have something in common
without using the words as or like
Examples:
 All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players…
-Shakespeare (comparing the world to a stage)
 Conscience is a man’s compass. – Van Gogh (comparing conscience to a compass)
 Chaos is a friend of mine. – Bob Dylan (comparing chaos to a friend)
 All our words are but crumbs that fall down from the feast of the mind.
– Khalil Gibran (comparing words to crumbs)
3. Personification = gives to inanimate objects, animals, plants, and abstract ideas the
characteristics of a person
Examples:
 Earth felt the wound; and Nature from her seat,
Sighing, through all her works, gave signs of woe. – John Milton
(explanation: Earth feeling the pain of a wound just like a person ; nature sitting, sighing
and acting woeful like a person)
 And so today, my world it smiles – Led Zeppelin
(explanation : the action of the world smiling just like a person)
 New York, New York, I want to wake up in a city that doesn’t sleep – Frank Sinatra
(explanation: the human action of sleeping being done by New York city)
4. Apostrophe = an address to the dead as if living, to the absent as if present, and to non-humans as
if they are persons.
Examples:
 “Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.” – The Star by Jane Taylor

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 (explanation: In this nursery rhyme, a child speaks to a star - an inanimate object. Hence,
this is a classic example of apostrophe.)
 “Welcome, O life! I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to
forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race.” – James Joyce
(explanation: Being able to talk to something abstract – like life itself – is possible only in
literature.)
 “Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think’st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me.” – John Donne
(explanation: Donne speaks to death, an abstract idea, as if it were a person capable of
comprehending his feelings.)
5. Alliteration = repetition of successive words having the same beginning consonants
Examples:
 Garry grumpily gathered the garbage.
 wild, wild, west
 Kim came to help us cut out a colorful kite for Chris.
Note: Remember that it is not the consonant alphabet that is successive, it is the consonant
sounds.
6. Hyperbole = extravagance of utterance or obvious exaggeration wherein more is said than could
possibly be true
Examples:
 I died of embarrassment. (How can you die just because you feel embarrassed)
 I will give you the moon and the stars. (Seriously? Who could do that?)
 I’ve read this book a hundred times. (Don’t you have a life to do another thing?)
Note: These statements are purely exaggerated.
7. Onomatopoeia (pronounced as o/no/ma/to/pe/ya) = use of words that imitate sounds
Examples:
 How they clang, and clash, and roar! – The Bells by Edgar Allan Poe
 I got that boom boom pow. – Boom Boom Pow, by Black Eyed Peas
 Coming out your mouth with your blah, blah, blah.– Blah Blah Blah, by Kesha
 Pity about poor Catherine, though. Tick-tock, tick-tock. – Hannibal
Lector Silence of the Lambs
 “Pow!” The Joker, making an explosion sound before blowing up a hospital. – The
Dark Knight
8. Antithesis = opposition or contrast of words and ideas to make the meaning more emphatic
Examples:
 That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. - Neil Armstrong. (small and
giant; step and leap; man and mankind)
 Every sunset is also a sunrise. (sunset and sunrise)
 Don’t Quit (observe the following underlined words from the poem)
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, 
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,                        
When the funds are low and the debts are high,                        
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,                        
When care is pressing you down a bit,                        
Rest, if you must, but don’t you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,                        
As every one of us sometimes learns,                        
And many a failure turns about,                        
When he might have won had he stuck it out;                        
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow–                        
You may succeed with another blow.
Often the goal is nearer than,                        
It seems to a faint and faltering man,                        
Often the struggler has given up,                        
When he might have captured the victor’s cup,                        

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 And he learned too late when the night slipped down,                        
How close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out–                        
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,                        
And you never can tell how close you are,                        
It may be near when it seems so far,                        
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit–                        
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.
                        - author unknown
9. Paradox = an apparently contradictory statement which is nevertheless true
Take note that these statements are not just contradictory but they are true as well.
Examples:
 The only constant thing is change.
 If everyone is special, no one is. (Disney’s The Incredibles)
 The more you give; the more you get.
 If you don’t risk anything, you risk everything.
10. Oxymoron = a special kind of paradox that brings together two contradictory terms
Examples:
 deafening silence
 definitely maybe
 true myth
 open secret
 random order
 Include me out.
 Tell them to stand closer apart.
 A hospital is no place to be sick.
11. Metonymy = substitution of one word for another which is associated with it or suggested by it
Examples:
 The very common example for this is the pen is mightier than the sword. Pen stands for
the written word and the sword stands for military aggression.
 Silicon Valley is constantly pushing the boundaries in innovation.
(referring to the tech industry)
 It seems like people will do whatever Hollywood says is cool.
(referring to the film industry)
 Malacañang gave the order.
(referring to the Phil. government)
12. Assonance = repetition of successive vowel sounds. Again, vowel sounds not vowel alphabets.
 Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary - The Raven by Edgar
Allan Poe
 “The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain” - musical My Fair Lady
 I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them Sam I Am. -Green Eggs and Ham by
Dr. Seuss

Note: There a lot more figures of speech out there but the mastery of the stated figures of speech
is more than enough. These terms may be too technical and I hope the examples are enough to
illustrate the idea of these figures of speech but just in case there are things that still confuse you,
please ask. Send me a message.  -Cherry

C. Learning Activities
Short Answer Questions (20 points)
Make sure you are logged in to your pcc.edu.ph account.
If you have understood already your learning content then you may proceed to the 3rd
learning activity posted or assigned in your Google Classroom.
Do not forget to submit or turn-in your answers.
Do not forget also to mark your activity as done.

Create your own sentence that shows one of the following figures of speech - one
sentence for every figure of speech. Make sure that it is your own sentence.

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 1. Hyperbole
2. Assonance
3. Metaphor
4. Apostrophe

Input your answers on Learning Activity 3 form under your classwork.

D. Resources
https://www.gradesaver.com/noli-me-tangere/study-guide/metaphors-and-similes
https://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/famous-metaphors
https://literarydevices.net
https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-metonymy.html

E. Assessment
Short Answer Questions (20 points)
Make sure you are still logged in to your pcc.edu.ph account.
If you are done already with your learning activity then you may now proceed your
assessment posted or assigned in your Google Classroom.
Do not forget to submit or turn-in your answers.
Do not forget also to mark your assessment as done.

Identification: Identify what figure of speech was shown in the following sentences.
Type your answer using small letters.

F. References
https://literarydevices.net

Prepared by: Noted by:

Cherry Cawis Engr. Cecilia L. Cabanilla