Hyperbole.
Definition: Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which conscious exaggeration based on truth. It may be used to heighten effect, or it may be used to produce comic effect. A hyperbole is also referred to as an overstatement.
Understatement: An understatement is a figure of speech employed by writers or speakers to intentionally make a situation seem less important than it really is. The literary opposite of overstatement used for a similar effect.
Lesson 1:
Read and think:
"Well!" thought Alice to herself, "after such a fall as this, I shall think nothing of tumbling down stairs! How brave they'll all think me at home! Why I wouldn't say anything about it, even if I fell off the top of the house!"
-Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Talk about it:
1. This is Alice's reaction after she tumbles down a long rabbit hole and starts her adventure. This is an example of a hyperbole, an exaggeration that is based on truth but carries the truth to such an extreme that is is no longer literally true. Of course, Alice wouldn't be as brave as she says if she fell off the top of the house. What, then, is the purpose of saying that she "wouldn't say anything about it"?
2. Compare Carroll's passage with this passage:
After I fell down the rabbit hole, I would be very brave about falling down again. I don't think I'd be scared at all.
Which sentence better helps the reader understand what Alice is thinking? Why?
Now you try it:
Write a sentence about a great basketball player, using a hyperbole. Model your sentence on Carroll's sentences.
Read and think:
"Well!" thought Alice to herself, "after such a fall as this, I shall think nothing of tumbling down stairs! How brave they'll all think me at home! Why I wouldn't say anything about it, even if I fell off the top of the house!"
-Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Talk about it:
1. This is Alice's reaction after she tumbles down a long rabbit hole and starts her adventure. This is an example of a hyperbole, an exaggeration that is based on truth but carries the truth to such an extreme that is is no longer literally true. Of course, Alice wouldn't be as brave as she says if she fell off the top of the house. What, then, is the purpose of saying that she "wouldn't say anything about it"?
2. Compare Carroll's passage with this passage:
After I fell down the rabbit hole, I would be very brave about falling down again. I don't think I'd be scared at all.
Which sentence better helps the reader understand what Alice is thinking? Why?
Now you try it:
Write a sentence about a great basketball player, using a hyperbole. Model your sentence on Carroll's sentences.
Lesson 2:
Read and think:
There are only two kinds of people who are really fascination- people who know absolutely everything, and people who know absolutely nothing.
- Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Talk about it:
1. What is the hyperbole in this sentence? What is being exaggerated?
2.What is the truth that underlies this hyperbole?
Now you try it:
Write a sentence that starts out like this:
There are only two kinds of friends that are really...
Then extend the sentence by using examples that are also examples of hyperbole. Use Wilde's sentence as a model.
Read and think:
There are only two kinds of people who are really fascination- people who know absolutely everything, and people who know absolutely nothing.
- Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Talk about it:
1. What is the hyperbole in this sentence? What is being exaggerated?
2.What is the truth that underlies this hyperbole?
Now you try it:
Write a sentence that starts out like this:
There are only two kinds of friends that are really...
Then extend the sentence by using examples that are also examples of hyperbole. Use Wilde's sentence as a model.
Lesson 3:
Read and think:
As fair art thou, my bonnie lass*,
So deep in luve** am I:
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a' the seas gang*** dry.
- Robert Burns, "A Red, Red Rose"
*pretty girl
** love
*** go
Talk about it:
1. Underline the hyperbole in this poem. Which part of the hyperbole is figurative?
2. What is the speaker's attitude toward his "bonnie lass"? How does the hyperbole in this stanza help you understand his attitude?
Now you try it:
Write a four-line poem that uses a hyperbole to express a strong feeling about something you would love to own. Name the item, and use Burn's poem as a model.
Read and think:
As fair art thou, my bonnie lass*,
So deep in luve** am I:
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a' the seas gang*** dry.
- Robert Burns, "A Red, Red Rose"
*pretty girl
** love
*** go
Talk about it:
1. Underline the hyperbole in this poem. Which part of the hyperbole is figurative?
2. What is the speaker's attitude toward his "bonnie lass"? How does the hyperbole in this stanza help you understand his attitude?
Now you try it:
Write a four-line poem that uses a hyperbole to express a strong feeling about something you would love to own. Name the item, and use Burn's poem as a model.
Lesson 4:
Read and think:
Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush. He surveyed the fence, and all gladness left him and a deep melancholy settled down upon his spirit. Thirty yards of board fence nine feet high. Life to him seemed hollow, and existence but a burden. Sighing, he dipped his brush and passed it along the topmost plank; repeated the operation; did it again; compared the insignificant whitewashed streak with the far-reaching continent of unwhitewashed fence, and sat down on a tree-box discouraged.
Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Talk about it:
1. As a punishment, Tom is told to paint a fence. He clearly does not like the task. Is the sentence "Life to him seemed hollow, and existence but a burden," a hyperbole? Explain.
2. Find the hyperbole in the last sentence. What is the figurative term and what does it tell the reader about Tom's attitude toward the task?
Now you try it:
Write three sentences that capture your attitude toward doing homework. Use at least one hyperbole in your description.
Read and think:
Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush. He surveyed the fence, and all gladness left him and a deep melancholy settled down upon his spirit. Thirty yards of board fence nine feet high. Life to him seemed hollow, and existence but a burden. Sighing, he dipped his brush and passed it along the topmost plank; repeated the operation; did it again; compared the insignificant whitewashed streak with the far-reaching continent of unwhitewashed fence, and sat down on a tree-box discouraged.
Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Talk about it:
1. As a punishment, Tom is told to paint a fence. He clearly does not like the task. Is the sentence "Life to him seemed hollow, and existence but a burden," a hyperbole? Explain.
2. Find the hyperbole in the last sentence. What is the figurative term and what does it tell the reader about Tom's attitude toward the task?
Now you try it:
Write three sentences that capture your attitude toward doing homework. Use at least one hyperbole in your description.