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Hyperbole

            Hyperbole is the use of exaggeration in making something seem greater, better or larger than it might actually be. It puts emphasis on words and phrases to create a rhetorical effect on the reader. In Andrew Marvell's "To Coy his Mistress" he uses hyperbole to exaggerate and emphasize his statements to make a more effective poem. Hyperbole makes it seem almost unreal to the reader however still conveys the idea of the subject being compared or thought as something larger or greater that what it really is. Marvell first compares his love to that of a vegetable. The vegetable is supposed to represent something insignificant and small, yet at the same time growing, his love for her. He then goes on the claim that his vegetable love shall grow vaster or greater than empires. This statement is a critical point of hyperbole. He is greatly exaggerating the growth of his love to be the size of a massive empire. Believable or not this comparison gets the idea across that he is experiencing a great love. He then states his love will grow more slowly than first a hundred years. To overemphasize the years he once again uses hyperbole. He begins with one hundred years then moves to two hundred in which he still adores his love and ends with thirty thousand years to rest. Though excessive use of hyperbole can have the tendency to backfire on a writer and cause an undesired affect on the piece of work, Marvell uses it wisely and not excessively where the point is made and not overstated. Without the use of hyperbole the meaning of the poem may not take shape and would be understated. Losing the true meaning of the poem would defeat the purpose of writing it, hyperboles allows Marvell to clearly and fully write the emotions and meaning the poem is supposed to portray. .
            


Essays Related to Hyperbole

1. Jesus

... thousand years as a powerful way to drive home a message. Although the contemporary term for deliberate use of exaggeration in drama/literature is called hyperbole, it is important to recognize that the original users of this style of writing/storytelling had no use for such literary terms. What they ... in was conveying a message that they felt so passionately about sharing that they were willing to risk a certain amount of misinterpretation. Exaggeration by hyperbole is considered an acceptable literary strategy and can be found in all languages. It serves the author as an effective t...

  • Word Count: 1777
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Grade Level: High School

2. Themes in The Catcher in the Rye

... relate to the narrator. Holden's very peculiar and distinctive voice is unfamiliar to most readers, enabling the audience to see him as a different and unique character. Finally the use of hyperbole gives the reader the impression that Holden is an intelligent and sensitive individual, who is emotionally disturbed and dissatisfied. The exploration of Holden's thoughts provides an insight into the character ... doubt in terms of the reliability of the prose, yet it provides the reader with an insight into Holden's mental processes through a somewhat crafted inner monologue. The literary te...

  • Word Count: 1201
  • Approx Pages: 5

3. MLK's,

... Gulliver travels to Lilliput, he encounters the Lilliputians, a people whom Swift describes meticulously throughout several chapters. Swift describes the Lilliputians as a "human creature not six inches high." (pg. 3) Swift uses hyperbole throughout this Voyage when describing the amounts of food, that as a "giant", he consumes. He also seems to have a fascination with the processes of nature, when discussing how he relieves ... fire. Throughout this voyage, as well as Voyage 2, Swift is constantly using exaggeration to construct his satire. On the other hand, the reader can get a feel ...

  • Word Count: 736
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

4. Sensory imagery and Figuative Language in

... Gatsby's party as an extravagant, gaudy social meeting that creates feelings of liveliness and excitement in the reader by using visual imagery and hyperbole. The party is frequently described as very colorful. "And already the halls and salons and verandas are gaudy with primary colors...the orchestra is playing ... was trying to get across. The other method of description the author uses to show how extravagant and over-blown Gatsby's party is, is hyperbole. The author describes the women at the party as having "hair shorn in strange new ways and shawls beyond the dreams of Castile." H...

  • Word Count: 496
  • Approx Pages: 2

5. Don't Change

... way as the day you fell in love. In addition, this song has a great beat and it is easy to listen to. Within the song there are metaphors, imaginary, and hyperbole. Metaphors, which compare two unlike ideas, are delicately worded in "Don't Change." "So let me reassure you darling that my feelings are truly unconditional" compares feelings and unconditional. This metaphor ... the song. "Cause everything about you makes me feel I have the greatest gift in the world" is a hyperbole because it obviously is an overstatement. But, the author uses this hyperbole to express how important she is...

  • Word Count: 619
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

6. The Problem with Television and Processed Foods

... of the Child They Raised", t.v. programs and junk-food companies are portrayed as the parents of an obese child named Brian. This article uses situational irony, burlesque, and hyperbole to criticize television programs and processed food companies for creating an unhealthy lifestyle for youth. The article uses burlesque by portraying the serious subject of obesity and laziness in children ... episode of Baywatch to answer them all. " Television programs have a big influence on children and the article criticizes how the media encourages kids to have a bad lifestyle. This example of hype...

  • Word Count: 739
  • Approx Pages: 3

7. Christmas

... the information, that the poem itself will talk about the Christmas. This poem contains many poetic devices, but I will talk about just three of them. They are personification, repetition and hyperbole. First I will talk about personification. First personification is on the line 8. This line says "Santa dance in your head". In reality Santa Clause can not dance in my head, it ... in ourselves this feeling of excitement like the people feel during a Christmas. And the last poetic device that I want to talk about is a hyperbole. It is on the line 4, "along with every girl and boy." Mainl...

  • Word Count: 674
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

8. Linguistic charactersitics of print advertisements

... use of different figures of speech. The figures of speech commonly found in the language of print advertising are: simile, metaphor, personification, pun, hyperbole, litotes, antithesis, metonymy. The use of these figures of speech in advertisements is described below. Hyperbole - a statement is made emphatic by overstatement. It results when a statement makes a claim that strictly speaking is impossible. Consider this headline for a computer ... on a computer terminal). Destruction here is an exaggeration, and what the message recipient has to do in response to this hyperbole is perfor...

  • Word Count: 2368
  • Approx Pages: 9
  • Grade Level: High School

9. Eudora Welty

Eudora Welty uses literary devices such as concrete detail, hyperbole, figurative language and anecdotes to help capture the intensity and value of her childhood experiences of reading. She portrays the pure evil of Mrs. ... never put an end to Welty's love for reading. She says, "I was willing; I would do anything to read." When Welty says this, she might be using a hyperbole, but her statement definitely conveys the intensity she had towards reading. Mrs. Calloway made her own rules about books, stating that only two books could be taken out at a ... became the most important aspect in her ...

  • Word Count: 558
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

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