Figurative Language Versus Literal Language Essay

Literal Language

In literature, authors have a plethora of literary devices which they can use to interest the reader and make their words more powerful. These tools provide the author with the ability to convey far more than they might have been able to without it. Unfortunately, this abundance of potential literary tools available can, in less skilled hands, make comprehensibility of written language very difficult. One of the most frequent offenses in literature is an author's confusion between figurative and literal language. In order to prevent such errors, it is best to become better acquainted with the terms of literary usage and then they can be used in their proper context.

An idiom is an expression has a meaning separate from the definitions of the actual words that are used. Idioms are cultural expressions which will usually not translate outside of their cultural context (Bradshaw 2012). Some idioms are specific to the community in which they are used and will not be discernible outside of the region. Examples of idioms include the phrase "raining cats and dogs." Of course the sky is not actually releasing animals, but drops of water.

An analogy is a comparison to two things wherein the connection between two objects in one context can be taken and used to compare in another set of circumstances. In literary terms, analogy can be used to compare characters or plot devices to real world situation. A perfect example is if someone is a duplicitous or dishonest employee. When a supervisor asks your opinion of this individual and you say, "He is as honest an employee as Richard Nixon was a President of the United States." Nixon was, of course, one of the most underhanded and deceitful men to ever hold the office and resigned the office before he was impeached for his criminal actions. By saying an employee has the same level of integrity; you are making an analogy that is decidedly not in his favor.

Metaphor is a comparison wherein one item is defined as another. The classic example is the expression, "men are pigs." This phrase is most often used when describing a particularly masculine male who minimizes and marginalizes women. They are thus compared to animals, and the lowest order of animals at that, making a simple statement that men who hold those archaic ideas are no better than farm animals, as if they had never evolved.

Similes are similar ideas to metaphor in that two distinctly different things are compared. However, in a simile it is required that the words "like" or "as" be used in making the comparison. Often literature will use similes in order to compare everything from personality to weather. In the classic fairy tale "Snow White," the eponymous character is famously described as having "lips as red as blood, hair as black as ebony, and skin as white as snow." Each characteristic of the character is compared to something that shares the color. It serves to impress upon the reader the exact shade that is described in the young woman's physical appearance. It is a far more specific image than if it was just said that she had red lips, black hair, and white skin.

Most authors are asked to avoid….....