Hyperbole

Hyperbole: a form of figurative speech using deliberate exaggeration.

FROST examples: Robert Frost's poetry often has a subdued, muted tone, therefore hyperboles and exaggerations are quite rare. Examples of hyperbole in his poetry are:

"What things for dream there are when **spectre-like**, Moving among tall haycocks lightly piled,
 * I enter alone** upon the stubble field" - Waiting, lines 1-3

The subject of this passage is the speaker himself. The speaker is describing how very lightly he moves through field, to the point where he is **spectre-like**. However, it is impossible to actually get to a state of looking like an apparition just from moving softly - this is an intentional exaggeration on Frost's part. EFFECT: Use of hyperbole here conveys a stronger image and incites an emotional response from the audience, rather just stating "I moved really stealthily through the field". The connotations of the word "spectre" also imply a fleeting, ghostly appearance, much like other content in the poem where the speaker observes the fleeting occurrences around him.

"There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch," - After Apple-Picking

This line is describing how many apples there were for the speaker while apple picking. There were clearly a lot of apples, but it is highly unlikely that the speaker touched ten thousand, let alone ten thousand thousand - another deliberate hyperbole. EFFECT:Here, this exaggeration enhances the theme as well as the imagery. The theme is that the speaker is tired of all of this harvest and, in particular, work, which seems so overwhelming, accentuated by the image of thousands of apples for him to get through.



SHAKESPEARE examples: Shakespeare, being a playwright and also simply because of his vastly different style, employs much more hyperbole than Frost does. Examples:

I.i.55-61 Gonerill: Sir, I love you more than word can wield the matter, Dearer than eyesight, space, and liberty, Beyond what can be valued rich or rare, No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour, As much as child e'er loved or father found; A love that makes breath poor and speech unable; Beyond all manner of 'so much' I love you.

This is somewhat of a doubly-intended hyperbole, as it is crafted by Shakespeare but also intended as an exaggeration on the character, Gonerill's part. If Gonerill truly felt this way, she would love so deeply she would be "unable of speech", and would be willing to give up her sight, space and freedom for her father. The reader sees quickly that this is clearly not the case. EFFECT: The hyperbole functions on a plot level in this case, and results in Lear handing over part of his kingdom to the exaggerating flatterer Gonerill, thus propelling the mayhem that follows.