Figures of speech add to the imaginative and emotional power of words. They are great value in poetry but they may be used just as well in prose. Even our most prosaic and ordinary conversation makes frequent use of figures of speech. When we say that a person is at the head of his class, we are using a metaphor. We are comparing the class to a person. When we speak of a long argument, we are using another metaphor –we are comparing an argument to a street.
A double purpose compels us to use figures of speech to make our own statements easier to understand by bringing in comparison with some more familiar objects and by making the idea more effective. Figures of speech give language greater suggestive power and arouse the emotions and the imagination. An effective use of figure of speech makes writing rich and interesting. However, a judicious use of figurative language must observe four rules:
1. Brief
2. Fresh
3. A likeness and an unlikeness to the original idea
4. Appropriateness and harmony of effect
Classification of Figures of Speech
1. Based Upon Likeness
a. Simile
b. Metaphor
c. Epithet
d. Personification
e. Apostrophe
f. Allegory
2. Based Upon Other Relations
a. Metonymy
b. Allusion
c. Hyperbole
3. Based Upon sentence Structures
a. Climax
b. Anticlimax
c. Epigram
d. Alliteration
e. Antithesis
ref: Serrano, Josephine B., et al; 'Advanced Composition'; National Bookstore. 1981
