subjects without using „like’ or „as’.
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Metaphor, on the other hand, the comparison is not stated explicitly but implied.
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For example, an expression like “Oh, she is a flower” does not actually
state a comparison, although of course the comparison is understood by implication. In a metaphor there is extended reference: the child is not literally a
flower. In such a statement the word flower may in one sense still stand for a flower, as the word house
in “the house of dust” still means a house; but the flower itself now stands for “something” with the beauty and purity of a flower.
c. Personification
Personification is attributing or applying human qualities to inanimate object, animals, or natural phenomena. In other words, personification is
describing a nonliving object as if there are and lives like human being.
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For example:
1. When the poets says, “The Moon doth with delight look round her,” he is
implying a comparison between the moon and a woman. 2.
My car was happy to be washed The above sentence is a form of figurative language in personification
form. The above sample explains that the car has the attributes of human being that to be happy because it was washed.
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George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, Metaphor London: University Chicago, p.36.
34
Charles H. Vivian and Bernetta M. Jackson, op.cit, p.307.
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Bradford T. Stull, The Element of Figurative Language New York: Longman Publishing Group, 2001, p.35.
3. The wind has hit my cheek at the beach
The above sentence is a form of figurative language in personification form. The above sample explains that the wind has the attribute of human
being. It can hit someone like the human. There are two requirements to be observed in connection with the figures
of comparison. The first, which pertains chiefly to the simile, is that the comparison must be drawn between things of different classes, like the child
human being and the flower plant. Otherwise the language is not figurative at all. If we say, for instance, that a love seat is like a sofa, except that the former has
room for only two people, we are comparing two things of the same class furniture. This is not a simile but a purely literal expression. The second
requirement, pertaining chiefly to the metaphor, is that if the comparison is extended, it must be carried out consistently. Otherwise the result is likely to be
what is called a consistently. Otherwise the result is likely to be what is called a mixed metaphor
. In “Hitch your wagon to a star, and step on the gas” a life or career is compared by implication first to a vehicle which is pulled by something
else, and then to an automobile. The effect of such inconsistency is incongruous and often unintentionally humorous.
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2. Figures of Contrast
