So hyperbole describes the sense of over-reaching, or grasping beyond what is necessary in order to describe a certain feeling, an experience, or response. The children were disappointed to learn that while the ice cream cones were very large, describing them as foot-high was. The customer’s letter of complaint included a number of outrageous claims and was generally full of hyperbole. Writing Prompt: Identify examples of hyperbole in Keats' poem. It combines one Greek term that means over and another that means cast or throw. Hyperbole refers to language that describes something as much better or worse than it really is. The poem is Keats' response to reading George Chapman's translations of Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey (Keats did not read ancient Greek, so he relied upon this translation for access to Homer's work). John Keats' "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer" offers many opportunities to practice analyzing hyperbole. Hyperbole can also be used to ironic effect in Satires. We've created a video, "What is Understatement?", that pairs well with this video. The literary terms that is opposite to hyperbole is understatement. In fact, the word hyperbole comes from the Greek word huperbole, which means to throw above. ![]() You need hyperbole to convey the sense that what’s happening is larger than life. Hyperbole is a specialized type of literary device that uses exaggerated statements in order to enhance certain narrative effects on the reader. And anyone who’s ever fallen madly in love will probably confirm that it’s by no means an everyday experience. The reader or listener is supposed to know that the user of hyperbole is joking or not being serious, as in It took them forever to finally finish raking the leaves. Hyperbole is not supposed to be taken literally. Simply looking at Juliet is an experience so overwhelming that it defies logic. Hyperbole is an intentional, obvious exaggeration, such as I hit that dang piata a million times before it broke. But the hyperbolic claim that Romeo makes in that special moment helps the audience understand that what he’s feeling is anything but commonplace. ![]() Juliet’s eyes, to Romeo, are so gobsmackingly beautiful that they could be put in the sky in place of the stars-an impossible concept! And what’s more, Romeo says that if her eyes were up there in the dark sky with the Big Dipper and Cassiopeia, all the sleeping birds on the planet would feel the light they cast, think that the sun had risen, and then start chirping.Īs science will confirm, no eyes in human history have ever been bright enough to serve as a bird wake-up call. ![]() “her eyes in heaven / Would through the airy region stream so bright / That birds would sing and think it were not night.” (2.1.19-22) Thankfully, Shakespeare instead employs hyperbole so that Romeo can describe her eyes as bright enough to make the stars in the sky want to offer her a job: Without hyperbole, you’d have to hear Romeo saying something more grounded and realistic, like “I find myself significantly attracted to that appealing-looking young lady, her eyes are very beautiful indeed.
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