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 2 minutes I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. I write today about a series of similes and metaphors from Merilyn Simonds…. I became an instant fan of Canadian writer Merilyn Simonds (pictured above), about 20 years ago when […]
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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 series of simlies from Anne Enright…. Anne Enright is an Irish writer and the first Laureate for Irish Fiction (2015–2018). She has published seven novels, many
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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 similes from American author Susan Choi…. I don’t usually buy books as a result of advertisements, but when my favourite book podcast, the
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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 Lee Israel…. The movie about literary forger Lee Israel grabbed my attention as soon as I heard the plot. It also
The figurative language of Lee Israel…. 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 similes from Dolly Alderton…. Dolly Alderton is a British-based writer and journalist with both British and Canadian roots. Alderton began writing for The Sunday Times as a dating
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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 similes from Thad Carhart…. My friend Jeff is a physicist who loves to read — both fiction and non. He recently gave me a
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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 a series of similes and metaphors from Damian Barr… A memoir of growing up in small-town Scotland during the Thatcher years, the book Maggie & Me
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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 a series of metaphors from Sophie Mackintosh… I don’t normally read Sci Fi or fantasy because neither of these genres has never appealed to me. Yet,
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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 Patrick Radden Keefe…. I seldom buy hard-cover books. Instead, I get them out of the library or I wait for the paperback to
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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 series of images from Elizabeth McCracken…. I learned about Elizabeth McCracken’s remarkable 1996 novel The Giant’s House, via the New York Times book review podcast. (I
Elizabeth McCracken and yet more figurative language Read More »
