HYPERBOLE
(also called OVERSTATEMENT)
Definition: A deliberate exaggeration, not meant to be taken literally, to create emphasis on something.
Hint: Often used in everyday speech, such as "You’re burning up!" when someone has a fever. Also used in poetry, often to get a point across.
Simple Example:
While it may be very cold outside, you will not, in reality, freeze to death. This over exaggeration is used, often by parents, to emphasize the need for wearing a jacket when it is cold out.
Sophisticated Example:
"Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No. This my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.”
(Act 2, Scene 2 of Macbeth by William Shakespeare)
Here, Macbeth is saying that he believes his conscience will never be clear of his guilt of his and Lady Macbeths killing of Lord Duncan (the blood on his hands) and that not even the whole ocean could clean his hands of this. This over exaggeration puts emphasis on how guilty he feels.
Hint: Often used in everyday speech, such as "You’re burning up!" when someone has a fever. Also used in poetry, often to get a point across.
Simple Example:
- "Put on your jacket or you'll freeze to death!"
While it may be very cold outside, you will not, in reality, freeze to death. This over exaggeration is used, often by parents, to emphasize the need for wearing a jacket when it is cold out.
Sophisticated Example:
"Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No. This my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.”
(Act 2, Scene 2 of Macbeth by William Shakespeare)
Here, Macbeth is saying that he believes his conscience will never be clear of his guilt of his and Lady Macbeths killing of Lord Duncan (the blood on his hands) and that not even the whole ocean could clean his hands of this. This over exaggeration puts emphasis on how guilty he feels.