Verbal Reasoning · 7 min read
Literary Elements and Figurative Language
Figurative Language
Figurative language uses words beyond their literal meaning to create effects, emphasize ideas, or make comparisons.
Metaphor and Simile
- Metaphors directly equate two unlike things, stating that one thing is another. "Life is a journey" compares life to travel without using "like" or "as."
- Similes compare unlike things using "like" or "as." "Life is like a journey" makes the same comparison but explicitly signals the comparison.
- Extended metaphors develop a comparison across multiple sentences or an entire work. The comparison accumulates meaning as the author explores different aspects of the parallel.
Personification
Personification attributes human characteristics to nonhuman things. "The wind whispered through the trees" gives the wind a human ability to whisper.
Personification makes abstract concepts concrete and helps readers connect emotionally with nonhuman subjects.
Hyperbole and Understatement
Hyperbole is deliberate exaggeration for emphasis. "I've told you a million times" exaggerates to emphasize repetition.
Understatement deliberately minimizes something's significance, often for ironic effect. Describing a serious injury as "just a scratch" is understatement.
Irony
| Type | The gap is between… | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verbal | What is said and what is meant | Calling a downpour "lovely weather" |
| Situational | What is expected and what happens | A fire station burns down |
| Dramatic | What the audience knows and what a character knows | A character trusts the friend the audience knows is a traitor |
Symbolism
Symbols are objects, characters, or events that represent something beyond their literal meaning. A dove often symbolizes peace; a journey may symbolize personal growth.
Symbols gain meaning from context. Not every object is symbolic, and symbols may carry different meanings in different works.
Allusion
Allusions are references to other works, historical events, or cultural knowledge. An allusion to "crossing the Rubicon" evokes Caesar's decisive action that started a civil war, suggesting a point of no return.
Recognizing allusions enriches understanding by connecting the current work to broader cultural contexts.
| Allusion | Source | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Achilles' heel | Greek myth | A single fatal weakness |
| Pandora's box | Greek myth | A source of many unforeseen troubles |
| Sisyphean task | Greek myth | Endless, futile labor |
| Odyssey | Homer | A long, eventful journey |
| Good Samaritan | Gospel of Luke | One who helps a stranger in need |
| Prodigal son | Gospel of Luke | A wasteful person who returns repentant |
| David and Goliath | Hebrew Bible | An underdog defeating a giant |
| Crossing the Rubicon | Roman history (Caesar) | A decision with no turning back |
More Figures of Speech
| Device | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Metaphor | Says one thing is another | "Life is a journey." |
| Simile | Compares using like or as | "Life is like a journey." |
| Personification | Gives human traits to nonhuman things | "The wind whispered." |
| Hyperbole | Exaggerates for emphasis | "I've told you a million times." |
| Understatement | Downplays for effect (litotes: "not bad") | Calling a deep wound "just a scratch" |
| Metonymy | Names something by a closely related thing | "The crown" for the monarch |
| Synecdoche | Uses a part for the whole (or whole for part) | "All hands on deck" |
| Apostrophe | Addresses someone absent or something nonhuman | "O Death, where is thy sting?" |
| Oxymoron | Joins two contradictory words | "bittersweet," "cruel kindness" |
| Paradox | A statement that seems contradictory but holds a truth | "To find your life, you must lose it." |
Narrative Elements
Narrative elements are the building blocks of stories, whether in prose, poetry, or drama.
Plot Structure
- Exposition introduces characters, setting, and initial situation. This background information prepares readers for the conflict.
- Rising action develops the conflict through a series of events that build tension. Complications and obstacles prevent easy resolution.
- Climax is the turning point of maximum tension where the conflict reaches its peak. After the climax, the outcome becomes inevitable.
- Falling action shows the consequences of the climax. Loose ends begin to be resolved.
- Resolution (or denouement) concludes the story, revealing the final outcome and tying up remaining plot threads.
Conflict
Conflict drives narrative forward. Without conflict, there is no story.
Character Development
Protagonists are central characters whose goals drive the plot. Antagonists oppose protagonists.
| Term | Meaning | Contrast with |
|---|---|---|
| Round | Complex, many traits, inner conflict | Flat: few traits, simple |
| Dynamic | Changes during the story | Static: stays the same |
| Foil | A character whose contrast highlights another's traits | — |
| Archetype | A familiar type: the mentor, the trickster, the innocent | — |
Character motivation explains why characters act as they do. Understanding motivation helps you predict behavior and interpret actions.
Setting
Setting includes time, place, and social circumstances. Setting can create mood, reflect character psychology, or function symbolically.
Historical settings require understanding the period's customs, beliefs, and constraints. Characters' options depend on their social context.
Point of View
Point of view determines whose perspective shapes the narrative and what information the reader can access.
Tone and Mood
Tone is the author's or speaker's attitude toward the subject. Mood is the feeling the work creates in the reader. Tone comes from word choice (diction), images, sentence rhythm, and what the author chooses to emphasize.
| Positive | Negative | Neutral or mixed |
|---|---|---|
| admiring, reverent | scornful, contemptuous | objective, detached |
| earnest, sincere | sarcastic, mocking | analytical, measured |
| nostalgic, wistful | bitter, indignant | ambivalent, ironic |
| hopeful, celebratory | ominous, foreboding | reflective, contemplative |
Theme
Theme is the central idea or insight about human experience that a work explores. Themes are expressed as complete statements, not single words.
| Topic (a word or phrase) | Theme (a complete statement) |
|---|---|
| Ambition | Unchecked ambition destroys the very things it seeks to gain. |
| Pride | Pride blinds people to their own faults. |
| Justice | True justice requires mercy as well as punishment. |
Identifying Themes
To identify themes, consider what the work suggests about its subject. A story about betrayal might explore themes like "trust must be earned and can be easily destroyed" or "forgiveness is possible even after betrayal."
Look for patterns: repeated images, recurring situations, or parallel characters. These patterns often point toward themes.
Consider the resolution. What does the ending suggest about the issues the work raised?
Universal Themes
Certain themes appear across cultures and time periods: the nature of good and evil, the search for identity, the tension between individual and society, the inevitability of death, the power of love, the corrupting influence of power, and the possibility of redemption.
The CLT draws from the Western tradition, so themes related to virtue, justice, faith, reason, freedom, and human nature appear frequently.
Finished reading?
Lock it in with a quick Verbal Reasoning quiz.