Figurative language occurs whenever a poet uses words in ways that deviate from their usual meaning. Sometimes, complex examples of figurative language leaves me puzzled but if I sit down and think about what I am reading, the underlying meanings become apparent. A metaphor is a comparison between two things that are otherwise unrelated. A simile is a kind of metaphor that uses like or as in the comparison. Metonymy occurs when the name of something is replaced by the name of something closely associated with it. Hyperbole may be used to exaggerate what is being described; understatement describes something as less than it is. Personification occurs when a non-human animal, object, or abstraction is given human qualities. Onomatopoeia is used to describe a word or words that sound like the thing they describe. A paradox is a statement that simultaneously contradicts itself and makes sense. An allusion is a reference to another work or to a real or historical event or person.
             Speaking of allusions, W. H. Auden, used a lot of them in his poem Musee des Beaux-Arts. Musee des Beaux-Arts itself is an allusion that pays reference to a fine arts museum in Brussels, Belgium. The "old masters" as referred to by the author were artists of the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries whose works, masterpieces of the Renaissance, also are called old masters. In this poem, Auden talks about the "miraculous birth" to pay reference to the birth of my lord and savior Jesus Christ. "Dreadful martyrdom," as referred to in the poem, is talking about the fact that people will often be killed because of what they believe in. By inserting many allusions, this author expects the reader to be familiar with whatever he pays reference to in the poem. In Shakespeare's Sonnet 18: Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's Day, figurative language is prevalent throughout the poem. Alliteration works by repeating one or more letters at the beginning of a word throu...