What is figurative language?

To put it simply, figurative language is the opposite of literal use of language. It is language that is symbolic or filled with figures of speeches that make the language non-literal. Figurative language is often use to make a point more memorable. You could say that figurative language has feelings, emotions, rhetoric and even paints a verbal picture. For example, you can say that a car speed down the highway at 123 miles per hour. This would be literal. Or you can say that the car flew down the highway so quickly that it took your breath away. This is figurative language, because cars do not fly and I am sure that it did not take your breath away. Figurative language makes writing and reading more interesting.

Figurative (or representational) language is speech that involves imagery with the purpose of further describing a noun without the use of a formal definition. Instead, the writer will compare one noun to another (simile) or replace one noun with another which is of a very similar nature to explain its description (metaphor).

Those idiomatic expressions you hear such as "white as a ghost" and the expressions used in poetry to define abstracts such as love "my love is like a red, red rose" are typical examples of figurative language.

Oh, and figurative language is not to be taken literary. It is meant to be understood within the context of the information and/or the story.

When trying to define figurative language, a good point of departure is to explain the difference between literal and figurative language.

Literal language is words and descriptions which convey the standard meaning of the words. Figurative language is using words to generate a special meaning or effect that is not the same as the standard meaning.

Figurative language can often be symbolic—a concept or idea is represented by a description or object. Figurative language also often makes use of comparisons between objects and/or ideas we would not normally connect with each other. These types of comparisons develop greater understanding for the concept being discussed.

Although figurative language is often poetic in its interpretation, if you really think about it, we use it in our everyday conversations as well.

Consider the following example: "My brother eats like a horse." This is an example of a figurative comparison. The boy is not literally a horse. However, the amount that he eats is compared to the amount eaten by a horse. This example of figurative language is a simile. The literal meaning (my brother eats a lot) is conveyed through a comparative description which gives the listener a vivid picture of how much he eats.

Figurative language brings more variety to conversation and can have an impact on the tone of a conversation. This is also because emotions can be connected to figurative descriptions more readily than to literal descriptions. Consider the difference between the following sentences:

It was raining heavily.

The sky wept profusely.

The first example is a literal description of the weather. In the second example figurative language is used (personification) to describe not only how much it is raining but to suggest the overall mood of the day.

The term "figural language" means using figures of speech and figures of thought as stylistic devices to make your writing more interesting. There are many different types of figures of speech. One important group is based on sound, i.e. making your writing interesting by using rhythms and repeated sounds in a highly patterned manner, such as alliteration (repetition of initial consonants, as in "the sessions of sweet silent thought"), assonance (repeated vowel sounds). Figures of thought include those of implicit comparison, or metaphor (e.g. "when age snows white hairs on thee") or explicit comparison, or simile ("My love is like a red, red rose").