Incorporating Similes, Metaphors, and Hyperboles Into Different Parts of Your Speech

As we continue looking at incorporating similes, metaphors, and hyperboles in stories and persuasive speeches, let’s focus on the body paragraphs. Here you add more details as you explain your characters or arguments, and you can use colorful language to make your ideas more understandable. Let’s look at an example paragraph from “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros:

Everybody in our family has different hair. My papa’s hair is like a broom, all up in the air. And me, my hair is lazy. It never obeys barrettes or bands. Carlos’ hair is thick and straight. He doesn’t need to comb it. Nenny’s hair is slippery – [it] slides out of your hand. And Kiki, who is the youngest, has hair like fur. But my mother’s hair, like little rosettes, like little candy circles all curly and pretty because she pinned it in pin curls all day, sweet to put your nose into when she is holding you, holding you and you feel safe, it is the warm smell of bread before you bake it, is the smell when she makes room for you on her side of the bed still warm with her skin, and you sleep near her, the rain outside falling and papa snoring. The snoring, the rain, and mama’s hair smell like bread.

At the beginning of the paragraph, the speaker first compares the hair of her father to a broom. What are the characteristics of a broom? Well, a broom has stiff bristles, usually made of plastic. This tells the audience that the father’s hair is coarse and hard to touch. Listeners can begin building an image of this character in their minds. Then, in later sentences, the speaker uses a simile to describe their mother’s hair: “mama’s hair that smells like bread.” Why did she use this simile? Because baked bread is a comforting smell, which most people know and love. Most importantly, it makes us feel that the mother’s character is warm and comforting. This is how well-crafted words can do more than describe. They can appeal to the emotions of the audience and evoke specific feelings.

Now let’s look at an example of hyperbole from an American folktale called “Babe the Blue Ox.” In the story, winter is humorously exaggerated to show how cold it was:

Well now, one winter it was so cold that all the geese flew backward and all the fish moved south and even the snow turned blue. Late at night, it got so frigid that all spoken words froze solid before they could be heard. People had to wait until sunrise to find out what people were talking about the night before.

Lastly, in the conclusion, similes, metaphors, and hyperboles are generally used within the call-to-action, final statement, moral, or denouement. This may add a flare of humor, a final spark of imagery, or restate a simile metaphor or hyperbole used previously in the hook or body paragraphs. Here’s an example:

As I’ve shown you so far, you need to work little by little every day to develop your passions. It’s like growing a tree. When you find something you’re interested in, plant that seed in your garden. Water it a little every day, and after a couple of months, you’ll have a sapling starting to grow. Continue to nourish it throughout your life, and that seed will have turned into a mighty tree. So, water your seeds, nourish your trees – these are our passions. Help them grow.

Now you’ve seen some ways to incorporate similes, metaphors, and hyperboles into different parts of your speech. Be careful not to overuse them, though. Don’t distract your audience with too many different ideas, and don’t make your similes, metaphors and hyperboles too complex and difficult to understand. When you use them well, though, you can create a relatable, memorable, and convincing speech to win over your audience. Remember: Writing is like walking on a bed of coals, and then finding yourself on a tropical beach. Good luck!