FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

AND LITERARY DEVICES

IN CREATIVE WRITING
LESSON 1.3
We are capable of
understanding and
perceiving the world
around us because
our body is designed
to receive
information through
our sense organs.

2
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
experiences.

3
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
using imagery and figures
of speech.

4
Use imagery, diction, figures of speech, and
specific experiences to evoke meaningful
responses from readers.
(HUMSS_CW/MP11/12-Ia-b-4).

5
● Identify the use of imagery in texts.
● Be familiar with the types of imagery.
● Identify different figures of speech.
● Use imagery and figures of speech in
an original work.

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 Do I Sense Something?
Let’s
Begin
1. The table on the next slide 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.

2. Here is an example:
Situation: Black Nazarene procession
Eyes: white hankies
Ears: a crowd of noisy devotees
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 Do I Sense Something?
Let’s
Begin Situation Eyes Ears Nose Tongue Skin

Black white the crowd the smelly the the

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

sightseeing
in Tagaytay
City
8
 Do I Sense Something?
Let’s
Begin Situation Eyes Ears Nose Tongue Skin

a visit to
the public
cemetery

relaxing at
a mall by a
bay

hiking with
friends
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 1. How did you come up with the words
Let’s and phrases that you put in the
Begin
table?

10
 2. Do you think that the words and
Let’s phrases you used can help the readers
Begin
to imagine the provided situations?
Explain your answer.

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 3. Provide a specific rule that you think
Let’s writers should follow about choosing
Begin
words and phrases that will help
their readers to perceive the
situations they are describing.

12
What are the types of imagery? What
figures of speech can we utilize for us to
effectively appeal to the reader's’ senses,
emotions, and feelings?

13
 IMAGERY

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 reader's’ senses, emotions, and feelings.
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What is imagery? How does it help to bring the
text to life?

15
15
 IMAGERY

Types of Imagery

Visual Imagery appeals to the

reader’s sense of sight.

Example:

The bright orange sunset covers

the entire western sky.

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IMAGERY

Types of Imagery

Auditory imagery appeals to the

reader's sense of hearing.

Example:

The woman hums the tune to La

Vie En Rose; it sounds adenoidal as
if the sound comes from her nose.
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 IMAGERY

Types of Imagery

Olfactory imagery appeals to

the reader’s sense of smell.

Example:

Bernice went to the attic and she

smelt the strong yet addicting
scent of mothballs.
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IMAGERY

Types of Imagery

Gustatory imagery appeals to

the reader’s sense of taste.

Example:

The crunch of the salted peanuts

filled Karli’s mouth as she waited
for the entree.
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Create a set of sentences that contains visual,
auditory, olfactory, and gustatory imagery.
There should be at least one sentence for each
imagery mentioned.

20
20
 IMAGERY

Types of Imagery

Tactile imagery appeals to the

reader’s sense of touch.

Example:

Nova, Brian’s dog, slobbered on

my face with her wet tongue.

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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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IMAGERY

Types of Imagery

Kinesthetic imagery appeals to

the reader's sense of motion.

Example:

Amanda tried to knock at the

door five times before she gave
up and strutted out of the private
yard. 23
 IMAGERY

Types of Imagery

Organic imagery appeals to the reader’s

internal sensations and emotions.

Example:

The woman is too weary to think about

the hunger and thirst she is experiencing
right now.

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Create a set of sentences that contains tactile,
kinesthetic, and organic imagery. There should
be at least one sentence for each imagery
mentioned.

25
25
 FIGURES OF SPEECH

Figures of speech are the various strategic and creative

uses of language that deviate from its conventional order,
construction, or meaning. 26
 FIGURES OF SPEECH

Simile

It is a figure of speech that directly expresses the similarity

between two objects. Most of them are presented in the
text through the use of the word as or like.

Example:

That guy is as fast as lighting!

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 FIGURES OF SPEECH

Metaphor

It is a figure of speech that declares that two objects are

identical.

Example:

You are the moon that guides me in the darkness.

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 FIGURES OF SPEECH

Synesthesia

It is a figure of speech that is

utilized in a text by describing a
sense using a word or phrase that
is connected to other senses.

Example:

I already had a taste of America; it

was awesome!
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How do figures of comparison intensify the
universal quality of a text?

30
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 FIGURES OF SPEECH

Oxymoron

It is a figure of speech that combines two contradicting

words or smaller verbal units to get the reader’s attention.

Example:

The end of the world may come through the rise of the
walking dead.

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 FIGURES OF SPEECH

Paradox

It is a figure of speech that combines two contradicting

words that may actually be proven to be true.

Example:

As I ponder what kind of costume I should wear this

Halloween, Sabrina whispers to me, “Less is more, Anna.”

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FIGURES OF SPEECH

Irony

It is a figure of speech that uses

language to express something that
is opposite of what is actually meant.
It has three types: verbal irony,
dramatic irony, and situational
irony.

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How do figures of contrast intensify the
universal quality of a text?

34
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 FIGURES OF SPEECH

Verbal Irony

A type of irony in which the words conveyed by someone

is the opposite of what he or she intends to express.

Example:

What a nice day to hang clothes outside! (The weather is

bad.)

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 FIGURES OF SPEECH

Situational Irony

A type of irony in which the situation or action that

happened in the story is the opposite of what is expected
to occur.

Example:

The woman stole money from the thief.

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 FIGURES OF SPEECH

Dramatic Irony

A type of irony in which the readers know something in

the story that the characters do not.

Example:

The audience knows that the man is cheating on his wife

even if she is still clueless about it.

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 FIGURES OF SPEECH

Personification

It is a figure of speech that gives

animals, ideas, abstractions, and
inanimate objects human-like
characteristics.

Example:

The wind speaks to me; she is

angry. 38
 FIGURES OF SPEECH

Apostrophe

It 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.

Example:

O Rizal, look what the youth is doing!

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 FIGURES OF SPEECH

Allusion

It is a figure of reference to mythological, literary,

historical, biblical, scientific, or political figures, events,
places, or objects.

Example:

I see that we have an Einstein in this class.

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 FIGURES OF SPEECH

Metonymy

It is a figure of representation wherein the name of the

object or concept used in the text is a substitute to a
closely related word to it.

Example:

I can’t wait to try the Caribbean dish Mama Luisa cooked

for us.
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 FIGURES OF SPEECH

Synecdoche

It is a figure of representation in which a part of something

signifies its whole or the whole of something signifies its
part.

Example:

How many heads attended the convention?

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How do figures of representation and reference
intensify the universal quality of a text?

43
43
 FIGURES OF SPEECH

Anaphora

It 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.

Example:

Mad people, mad government, mad country!

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FIGURES OF SPEECH

Hyperbole

It is a figure of exaggeration used

to heighten effect or for humor.

Example:

That joke is so funny that I died

laughing!

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 FIGURES OF SPEECH

Litotes

It is a figure of speech in which a thing is expressed by

declaring the negative of its opposite.

Example:

All in all, he’s not a bad singer. (It means that he is a good
singer.)

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 FIGURES OF SPEECH

Pun, or Paronomasia

It is a figure of speech that plays with words.

Example:

That library is tall; it has thousands of stories!

(Stories may refer to the number of floors of a building, or the
narrative stories that books contain.)

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

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BRING ME. BRING ME A SHOE IF THE STATEMENT IS
TRUE; OTHERWISE, BRING ME A WHITE SOCK.

1. GUSTATORY IMAGERY APPEALS TO THE

SENSE OF SMELL.

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BRING ME. BRING ME A NOTEBOOK IF THE
STATEMENT IS TRUE; OTHERWISE, BRING ME A BOOK.

2. ORGANIC IMAGERY IS USED IN A TEXT IF IT

CONTAINS WORDS THAT APPEAL TO THE
READERS’ FEELINGS, AND EMOTIONS.

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BRING ME. BRING ME A COIN IF THE STATEMENT IS
TRUE; OTHERWISE, BRING ME A MONEY BILL.

3. AUDITORY IMAGERY APPEALS TO THE

SENSE OF HEARING.

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BRING ME. BRING ME A WATER BOTTLE IF THE
STATEMENT IS TRUE; OTHERWISE, BRING ME A BAG.

4. KINESTHETIC IMAGERY IS USED IN A TEXT IF

IT CONTAINS WORDS THAT APPEAL TO THE
READER’S SENSE OF MOVEMENT.

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BRING ME. BRING ME A PEN IF THE STATEMENT IS
TRUE; OTHERWISE, BRING ME A PENCIL.

5. THE WORDS THAT ARE CONNECTED TO

TEMPERATURE CAN BE USED TO INSERT
TACTILE IMAGERY IN THE TEXT.

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● 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.
54
● 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.) 55
Create a quatrain (a four-line conventional poem
that follows a rhyme scheme) using the writing
prompt below.

Writing Prompt: How will 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).
Slide no. 3: Five Senses by TheNickster is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Creative Commons.

Slide no. 4: Reading in Bed by Artotem is licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Creative Commons.

Slide no. 17: Eye by Denis Defrayne is licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Creative Commons.

Slide no. 18: Ear by Travis Isaacs is licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Creative Commons.

Slide no. 19: File:Fort Ross Elena wearing Traditional Russian Costume (cropped).jpg by Franco Folini is licensed
under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Creative Commons.

Slide no. 20: Sarah Stambaugh - boring tongue by Mike Burns is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Creative Commons
.

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Slide no. 22: looking at my left hand by hortulus (Seán A. O'Hara) is licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Creative Commons
.

Slide no. 24: Busy Running by Paul David is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0 via Creative Commons.

Slide no. 25: 071/365 Crying by ocastanonb (Oscar Castanon) is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Creative Commons.

Slide no. 34: File:Situational irony - Baker Street tube station.jpg by Dpbsmith at English Wikipedia is licensed under
CC BY-SA 3.0 via Creative Commons.

Slide no. 46: A bit hyperbolic, don't you think? by urbanfoodie33 is licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Creative Commons.

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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-po
etry-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-figur
ative-language-with-examples#quiz-0
.

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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%20descriptiv
e%20language,in%20particular%20metaphors%20and%20similes
.

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