to an end we are slaughtered with hideous cruelty.

Adjectives like "hideous" exaggerate the rhetoric.

He uses hyperbole, too, when he asks if the soil of England is too poor to provide comfortably for the animals, answering with:

No, comrades, a thousand times no!

Orwell's narrator uses a metaphor or comparison when he describes Farmer Jones's lantern light as:

dancing from side to side.

The light isn't really dancing, but the metaphor emphasizes that Jones is so drunk he can't walk steadily.

As the metaphor above suggests, Orwell uses imagery to help characterize the different animals. For example, the narrator states that

Mollie, the foolish, pretty white mare who drew Mr. Jones's trap, came mincing daintily in, chewing at a lump of sugar. She took a place near the front and began flirting her white mane, hoping to draw attention to the red ribbons it was plaited with.

This isn't simply literal description, such as you might find in a scientific paper: it is all meant to tell us something about Mollie's vain and pleasure-loving character.

Old Major uses descriptive imagery to tug at the heartstrings of his audience and build pathos or emotion, when he says:

As for the dogs, when they grow old and toothless, Jones ties a brick round their necks and drowns them in the nearest pond.

Old Major uses both a cliché when he says "crystal clear" and alliterative "c" sounds when he says:

Is it not crystal clear, then, comrades.

The rousing song the animals sing at the end of their meeting is filled with figures of speech. These include repetition, end rhyme in lines B and D, archaic words such as "hearken" and "tidings" that allude to Christmas carols about the birth of Christ, and the metaphor "golden" to liken the future to both a precious metal and sun-filled days:

Beasts of England, beasts of Ireland, / Beasts of every land and clime, / Hearken to my joyful tidings / Of the golden future time.

To find some examples of figures of speech in chapter one, have a closer look at Old Major’s speech. One of the figures of speech used here is hyperbole, or gross exaggeration. Here’s an example:

No animal in England knows the meaning of happiness or leisure after he is a year old.

Of course, Old Major is exaggerating here. The truth is that all animals feel happiness and have leisure time in England. The reason that Old Major exaggerates is that he wants to give a dramatic effect to his speech. He wants the animals to believe that their situation is so bleak that a rebellion is the only solution to their problem. Hyperbole, therefore, functions as a persuasive technique.

We also find an example of irony in Old Major’s speech, in the following lines:

And even the miserable lives we lead are not allowed to reach their natural span. For myself I do not grumble, for I am one of the lucky ones. I am twelve years old and have had over four hundred children. Such is the natural life of a pig.

On the one hand, Old Major says that no animal is allowed to live a long, natural life. However, in the next sentence, he admits to being 12 years old and living a “natural life.” This is ironic because it is not what the reader expects Old Major to say. If he is talking about living a short life, then we would expect him to use a supporting example in the next sentence, not an example which contradicts his point. For the reader, this example of irony creates interest and curiosity because we wonder why Old Major would deliberately contrast our expectations with what he actually says.

A figure of speech is a word or phrase that means something different than its immediate, literal meaning. Examples of figures of speech include metaphors, similes, personification, hyperbole, puns, and others.

Animal Farmis chock-full of interesting and important figures of speech. Chapter one contains an abundance of figures of speech. Personification and metaphor are two common—but very important—types of figures of speech that can be found in chapter one.

Personification is a figure of speech in which a nonhuman object is given human characteristics. An example of personification occurs very early in chapter one of Animal Farm:

With the ring of light from his lantern dancing from side to side.

A ring of light is not human and it does not literally get up and dance. Therefore, depicting the ring of light as being able to mimic the human act of dancing makes this statement an example of personification.

A metaphor is a figure of speech which implicitly compares two things that are not directly related. 

The life of an animal is misery and slavery: that is the plain truth. 

Considering the animals on the farm are not literal slaves, this statement is a metaphor. The animals' grueling daily labor and their resulting unhappiness make their lives easily comparable to slavery.

The animals are said to have a "stormy debate," for instance, over retirement ages. "Stormy debate" is a figure of speech used to describe the arguments that arise between Snowball's and Napoleon's ideas. Since it is not literally rainy and windy as they debate, the word stormy is being used as a metaphor, or a comparison that does not use the words like or as, to describe the tension of these debates.

When Squealer says to the other animals that "Day and night we are watching over your welfare," the phrase "day and night" functions as a figure of speech. The pigs are not literally watching over the animals twenty-four a day, as they have to sleep and do other things. The phrase is an example of hyperbole (exaggeration) used to emphasize a point. Further, it is a cliche, or an overused term that has been repeated so many times it has lost most of its power. It is just filler language, which is very typical of Squealer. Finally, the words "watching over your welfare" are also a figure of speech. Since welfare is an abstract concept that can't be literally watched, Squealer is communicating (falsely) that the pigs think of safeguarding the welfare or well-being of the other animals as their primary responsibility and mission in life.

Idiom: This is a word, phrase or way of speaking common to a particular group of people, a culture, or in this case a group of animals. In discussing Animalism, Snowball explains the Seven Commandments. Since some of the animals can not read well nor remember the commandments by heart, Snowball gives them a maxim which becomes an idiom, which becomes common to this particular farm of animals: "Four legs good, two legs bad." This can be considered an idiom, a maxim, or an aphorism. An aphorism is a short statement that sums up a truth, principle, or doctrine. 

In the third to last sentence of the chapter, the figure of speech "in this light" is used. Squealer is justifying to the other animals why the pigs are getting the milk and apples. Even though there are some problems (such as this inequality with the milk and apples), the animals are all in agreement that life is better without Jones. To put "in this light" is not to literally put something into physical light. Rather, it is to make it clear and understandable: it is clear that life is better without Jones. It is as if to say that it was unclear (and in the dark) and now is clear (in the light). This is generally called a figure of speech but could also be called a metaphor since Orwell uses light to describe something else: mental clarity. 

Figurative language includes most of the comparative literary elements like simile, metaphor, and personification. Furthermore, it can include figures of speech, euphemism, idiom, or hyperbole. In chapter 3 of Animal Farm, many of these can be found:

Simile:

"All through that summer the work of the farm went like clockwork."

Hyperbole (an exaggeration):

He had been a hard worker even in Jones's time, but now he seemed more like three horses than one; there were days when the entire work of the farm seemed to rest on hismighty shoulders.

There is no way the work of the farm could rest on one animals' shoulders.

Euphemism (essentially a figure of speech):

When it was put to them in thislight, they had no more to say.

In this instance, in this light means from a certain perspective. It does not literally mean in the light of a specific lamp, the sun, or daylight. This figurative meaning makes it a figure of speech instead of a literal expression.

In George Orwell’s allegorical novel Animal Farm, “Beasts of England” is an anthem the pig Old Major shares with the animals to rouse support for a rebellion based on Old Major’s dream for a society controlled by the animals themselves, not ruled by men. Later, Animal Farm’s leader Napoleon replaces this anthem with “Comrade Napoleon.” He bans the original anthem, claiming that “Beasts of England” is no longer needed after the rebellion has been completed. This act corresponds to Joseph Stalin’s replacing the anthem of the Soviet Union, The Internationale, with a new, more patriotic National Anthem of the Soviet Union in 1943.   

Like The Internationale, “Beasts of England” reflects principles of Marxism through its imagery and figurative language. The anthem portrays an optimistic view of a “Golden future time.” When “Beasts of England” is later replaced with “Comrade Napoleon,” this represents a loss of this hopeful view of the future. The song also describes symbols of repression, which, for the animals, include nose rings, whips, bits, and spurs. Riches and plenty are represented as food—“barley, oats, and hay.” The anthem says “all must labour” in this effort, a revolutionary call to action.

The first important fact to note is that the poem is a satire, especially of "The Internationale," a 19th century socialist anthem written to celebrate the Paris Commune. From 1914 to 1944, this song was an unofficial anthem in Russia under communism, and even after the creation of the "Hymn of the Soviet Union" remained quite popular. Given that Animal Farm is an anti-totalitarian novel dedicated to opposing communist Russia (during the era when it was communist rather than its present kleptocracy), it should not be read as an attempt by Orwell to write a good poem, but rather as a satire on what he considered the debasement of language and thought by authoritarian regimes. 

The overarching metaphor is the substitution of the animals of the farm rebelling against humans in the song for the workers rebelling against the state, religion, and the wealthy in "The Internationale."

One of the most important literary elements of the poem is allusion. In its promises of an animal paradise in England, "Beasts of England" not only alludes to "The Internationale" but also Blake's "Jerusalem," which it resembles in meter as well as content. Compare, for example, Orwell's vision of the animals' struggle for an animal paradise with

I will not cease from Mental Fight,

Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand:

Till we have built Jerusalem,

In England's green & pleasant Land

Another important figure of speech is the repetition of such phrases as "Beasts of England." This phrase is also an example of apostrophe, or direct address.

The poem uses a loose rhyme scheme, with most stanzas rhyming ABCB except for the second six-line stanza, which uses the figure of a question-response pattern common in anthems.

A rather simplistic song with a simple melody and the lilt of speech, the song of the Rebellion, "Beasts of England" has short stanzas of four lines with the rhyme scheme of abcb. It is a catchy tune that the animals easily learn.  Throughout this battle hymn, there is figurative language and imagery:

Figurative Language

• Apostrophe - the Beasts of England are addressed in the first stanza: "Hearken to my joyful tidings/Of the golden future time."  The final stanza also addresses the beasts.
• Metaphor - "the golden future,"  "Tyrant Man,"  "fruitful fields of England,"
• Personification - "Cruel whips"
• Metonymy - "Bit and spur"  This figure of speech that substitutes something closely related to a thing actually meant. These metal pieces used on horses represent the controlling and cruel aspects of Mr. Jones. "Wheat and barley, oats and hay,/Clover, beans, and mangel wurzel" stand for the contentment the animals will feel.

Imagery

• visual imagery - "golden future"  "bright"
•   olfactory imagery - "Sweeter yet shall blow its breezes"
•   tactile imagery - "trod by beast alone"

Orwell uses imagery, which is description using any of the five senses of sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell, at the start of the book when he writes:

With the ring of light from his lantern dancing from side to side, he [Farmer Jones] lurched across the yard, kicked off his boots at the back door, drew himself a last glass of beer from the barrel in the scullery, and made his way up to bed, where Mrs. Jones was already snoring.

We can visualize all that Mr. Jones does, and we can hear Mrs. Jones snoring. Another example of sight and sound imagery is the following:

Mrs. Jones looked out of the bedroom window, saw what was happening, hurriedly flung a few possessions into a carpet bag, and slipped out of the farm by another way. Moses sprang off his perch and flapped after her, croaking loudly.

Old Major uses hyberbole or exaggeration when he says of the animals that they:

are forced to work to the last atom of our strength; and the very instant that our usefulness has come to an end we are slaughtered with hideous cruelty.

Old Major employs a metaphor, which is a comparison not using the words like or as, when he says that the animals are "all brothers." He means that must act like brothers to one another.

Metaphor occurs again when the other animals say that Squealer "could turn black into white." By this, they mean he is a persuasive speaker who can make what is evil seem pure and good.

Similes are comparisons that use the words like or as. An example of a simile is the work on the farm soon after the Rebellion being said to run "like clockwork." This is a cliche, or tired out phrase, like many of the metaphors the animals use, suggesting the animals are not the most creative thinkers.

Both alliteration and assonance are used in the following statement:

pigeons came whirling through the air and alighted in the yard of Animal Farm in the wildest excitement.

Alliteration occurs when words beginning with the same consonant are placed in close proximity, while assonance occurs when the same vowel is repeated at the beginning (or in the middle) of a word. The "w's" in "whirling" and "wildest" are examples of alliteration, and the "a's" in "air," "alighted," and "Animal" are examples of assonance. The use of alliteration and assonance is appropriate for this line, which is one that ushers in the dramatic event of Farmer Jones and his men attacking to try to regain Animal Farm.

There are many comparisons in Animal Farm, and Old Major's speech in chapter 1 has several examples. The reader becomes engrossed with the animals' predicament and soon realizes that "the life of an animal is misery and slavery." This is a comparison between the animals' existence and slavery or misery and is therefore a metaphor. 

Imagery as a literary technique in itself creates visual pictures using the senses to inspire the reader. A good example from Major's speech is "the very instant that our usefulness has come to an end we are slaughtered with hideous cruelty." This comment leaves nothing to the imagination and although the reader may be used to eating meat and so slaughtering animals is actually commonplace, he cannot help but be moved by this comment (and perhaps feel guilty) which humanizes the animals and makes the practice seem quite barbaric. 

Parallelism in literature uses structure to stress important information, and is purposefully quite repetitive with a familiar beat. In Old Major's speech, there is much parallelism as Major must express himself clearly because the animals are not particularly intelligent and his words need to inspire them not scare them. The structure of his speech therefore contributes to the animals' confidence. Here are some examples:

"I have had a long life, I have had much time for thought" (chapter 1)

"We are born, we are given just so much food... we are slaughtered with hideous cruelty."

"No animal in England knows the meaning of happiness or leisure... No animal in England is free"

"He (Man) does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits." Here, even though the words may differ, the rhythm remains the same, almost like a chant. There is a definite warning contained in these words, as despite all this, Man "is lord of all the animals." 

There are many striking instances of a certain type of imagery in Orwell's Animal Farm. One of these occurs late in the novel when Boxer overexerts himself and injures his lung.

When Boxer explains that he hopes to retire and the other animals all leave him to relay the news to the rest of the farm, "[o]nly Clover remained, and Benjamin, who lay down at Boxer's side, and without speaking, kept the flies off him with his long tail." 

This example of imagery is in line with many others instances from the text as Animal Farm can be called a book of iconic images (or politically/symbolically charged images) more so than it is a book of detailed physical description. The imagery then is constituted of "images" with moral and political weight, like the one quoted above. 

Imagery of this sort populates much of the book, from start to finish, as the animals are presented clearly within their social and political roles on the farm. Another striking example comes at the very end of the book when the pigs are seen to have essentially turned into humans. 

"The pigs become indistinguishable from the men who own the neighboring farms, and the animals are no better off than they were under human control" (eNotes).

Metaphor - Right after Jones is gone at the end of Chapter 2, the pigs drink the milk and try to brush it off as unimportant.  The milk is a metaphor for all the privileges the pigs will soon take for themselves. 

Simile - "All that year the animals worked like slaves" (Chapter 6, first line).

Imagery - Squealer, the master of propaganda, in Chapter 5 is explaining tactics. 

"He repeated a number of times, 'Tactics, comrades, tactics!' skipping round and whisking his tail with a merry laugh." 

Imagery uses the senses to create an impression; here we have sight, sound, and touch.

Paralellism - The commandments are always in a parallel construction, as are most of Squealer's propaganda/threats that Jones will come back. 

One particularly striking metaphor in the story is Sugarcandy Mountain. This is a kind of heaven, a glorious paradise where animals will go when they die and where they will feast on never-ending supplies of clover, lump sugar, and linseed cake. It's a metaphor for the vision of heaven offered by the Orthodox Church in pre-revolutionary Russia.

In crudely Marxist terms, the Church held out the prospect of paradise in the next life to mitigate the horrors of life in this world. Those in power used the promise of heaven in the next life to keep the poor and dispossessed in check. Things may be bad now, they would say, but paradise awaits you in the next world. All you have to do is keep your head down, do as you're told, and once you've shuffled off this mortal coil, everything will be just fine.

Sugarcandy Mountain is a dangerous myth for Napoleon because it provides an alternative to the paradise on Earth that he offers the animals. And just as the Bolsheviks—on whom Napoleon and his gang are based—cracked down on the Orthodox Church after they came to power, so too Napoleon and his minions attack the myth of Sugarcandy Mountain, seeing it as a threat to the control they exert over the hearts and minds of the animals on the farm.

I would say that the characters in the book are the best examples of metaphors. Under the pain of censorship and not being published, Orwell had to construct the animals as extended metaphors of the historical figures he satirized.  For example, Benjamin is a metaphor for the disaffected and cynical intellectual who realizes too late the need to take action.  In this, Benjamin is a metaphor for the likes of the Orwells of the world who realize far too late that their call to action has in fact passed.  Orwell looked for a way to bring out the loyalty of those who followed the revolution in Russia and paid the ultimate price for it.  In this, I think that Boxer is a wonderful metaphor. He represents how individuals who pledge unquestionable loyalty to a government can end up being sacrificed for it.  I think that the metaphor for the misguided individuals who are trapped in between how political reality is going and how it should be going would be seen in Mollie, who never really has the courage to launch a counter- revolution but has extreme difficulty in being able to identify how what is happening on the farm is in line with what was initially promised.  Orwell uses his characters as metaphors, a way to draw out the comparison between what he wishes to say and how he can say it.

In the novella Animal Farm, Old Major—one of the senior pigs and "father" of the revolution—dreams of a world that is dominated by animals. This dream inspires the lyrics of "Beasts of England."

The song became a form of revolutionary manifesto for the animals on the farm. George Orwell based "Beasts of England" on "The Internationale" and "Men of England." The tune is prophetic in nature and thus uses vivid imagery.

Like many nationalistic melodies and odes, "Beasts of England" glorifies the beauty of the nation's landscape. The song contains descriptions of fields and other natural surroundings, such as:

And the fruitful fields of England
Shall be trod by beasts alone.

The lyrics also contain hints of utopian visions, which is typical of nationalist songs and revolutionary odes. For instance, the song contains the following lines:

Bright will shine the fields of England,
Purer shall its waters be . . .

The second line illustrates the tone of the animals' vision of the future: that they will inherit the Earth and return it to its past purity. In contrast, the humans, in the animals' perspective, are dirty polluters of the land.

I think that Orwell uses specific mental pictures to help develop a larger view of the animals on the farm and their contrasts between one another.  I think that one such example would be when Napoleon enters the shed in which Snowball has been constructing elaborate plans for the windmill and simply urinates on them.  The image here of Napoleon urinating on something that Snowball has worked on for such a long time brings out his desires to dismiss Snowball and how Snowball's attempts to bring real and lasting change to the farm are futile in the face of Naploeon's power.  This contrast is striking in such an image.  Another powerful image that brings out contrast between characters would be how Clover looks out for the small ducklings at the moments before Old Major's speech.  While the other animals are moving into the barn, thinking only of themselves, Clover is more concerned about the weakest of animals, the ones lost from their mother.  While the pigs are sitting right in front, attempting to absorb as much as possible from Old Major's speech, Clover is worried about the most insignificant of animals, perhaps representing Animalism more than Old Major.  This is a striking image.  Certainly, when Boxer is taken to the Knacker's, Benjamin being the only one to realize what is happening, and being helpless to do anything is another contrasting image that reflects how his own being has been an exercise in futility.  The instant when he realizes what is happening to his best friend and he cannot do anything about it is a moment where his own helplessness brought about by his own choice and the helplessness of the other animals brought about their own predicament converge into one powerful image.