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Definition of Hyperbole
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements are usually quite obvious exaggerations intended to emphasize a point... read full definition
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements are usually quite obvious exaggerations... read full definition
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements... read full definition
Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Benjamin’s Jealousy:
When Benjamin is waiting to dance with Hildegarde for the first time—having fallen in love with her at first sight at a high society ball—the narrator captures his emotional experience using hyperbolic language and a simile:
He stood close to the wall, silent, inscrutable, watching with murderous eyes the young bloods of Baltimore as they eddied around Hildegarde Moncrief, passionate admiration in their faces. How obnoxious they seemed to Benjamin; how intolerably rosy! […] [W]hen his own time came, and he drifted with her out upon the changing floor to the music of the latest waltz from Paris, his jealousies and anxieties melted from him like a mantle of snow.
Related Themes:
Chapter 11
Explanation and Analysis—The Most Fascinating Game:
Near the end of the novel, the narrator describes Benjamin’s experience of attending kindergarten alongside his grandson, using a hyperbole in the process:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Five years later Roscoe’s little boy had grown old enough to play childish games with little Benjamin under the supervision of the same nurse. Roscoe took them both to kindergarten on the same day and Benjamin found that playing with little strips of colored paper, making mats and chains and curious and beautiful designs, was the most fascinating game in the world.
Related Themes:
