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A writer's choice of language — their diction — is the primary tool through which meaning is created. At A-Level, you are expected to analyse language with precision, identifying specific techniques and, more importantly, explaining their effects. This lesson covers the major categories of figurative language and imagery you need to understand.
Diction refers to a writer's choice of words. Every word in a literary text has been chosen (or should be treated as though it has been chosen) for a reason. Analysing diction means asking: why this word and not another?
Key Definition: Diction — a writer's choice of words, considered in terms of their connotations, register, sound, and effect.
Consider two ways of describing rain:
The second sentence uses "hammered" — a verb with connotations of violence, aggression, and relentlessness. The diction transforms a neutral description into something forceful and potentially threatening.
Figurative language uses words in non-literal ways to create particular effects. The major forms you need to know are:
A metaphor states that one thing is another, creating a direct identification between two unlike things.
Key Definition: Metaphor — a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable, implying a resemblance.
Example: In Macbeth, Lady Macbeth says: "Look like th'innocent flower, / But be the serpent under't." She does not mean Macbeth should literally become a flower or a serpent. The metaphor identifies innocence with beauty (the flower) and evil with hidden danger (the serpent), drawing on deep biblical associations.
Extended metaphor — when a metaphor is developed across several lines or even an entire text. John Donne's "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" extends the metaphor of a compass across the final three stanzas to represent the connection between separated lovers.
A simile compares two things using "like" or "as", keeping the comparison explicit.
Example: In Wuthering Heights, Nelly Dean describes Heathcliff's return: "his eyes, too, were like a couple of black fiends." The simile makes the comparison visible — we see the likeness but also the gap between the literal (eyes) and the figurative (fiends).
Exam Tip: Do not simply identify "this is a simile." Explain what the comparison reveals. A simile using "like a caged animal" suggests confinement, frustration, and latent violence — the analysis is in the connotations, not the label.
Attributing human qualities to non-human things.
Example: In Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind": "O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being." The wind is addressed as though it can hear and respond, given agency and personality. This elevates a natural force to something almost divine.
These are less commonly discussed but important for sophisticated analysis:
| Term | Definition | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Synecdoche | A part represents the whole (or vice versa) | "All hands on deck" — "hands" represents sailors |
| Metonymy | A related or associated thing represents the original | "The Crown" represents the monarchy; "the pen is mightier than the sword" — pen represents writing, sword represents military force |
These figures compress meaning, allowing writers to evoke complex ideas efficiently.
A symbol is an object, character, figure, or colour used to represent an abstract idea or concept. Unlike metaphor, symbolism operates across an entire text rather than in a single moment.
Key Definition: Symbolism — the use of a concrete image or object to represent something beyond its literal meaning, often an abstract idea or theme.
Examples:
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