figure of speech: a device used to produce figurative language. Example: apostrophe, metaphor, personification, simile, etc
"In the case of our old gentlewoman, after the excitement of new effort had subsided, the despondency of her whole life threatened, ever and anon, to return. It was like the heavy mass of cloud, which we may often see obscuring the sky, and making a gray twilight everywhere, until, towards nightfall, it yields temporarily to a glimpse of sunshine. But always, the envious cloud strives to gather again across the streak of celestial azure."
-The House of the Seven Gables
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The figure of speech here consists of the comparison of Hepzibah's life and worrying and a cloud, darkening the earth. Hawthorne is using the figure of speech to show the circumstances and attitude of Hepzibah. The comparison helps the reader to know what she was feeling, allowing the reader to empathize with her and see her as more human, the reader feels sorry for her. She is depressed as her entire world is changing, the reader understands this and relates because of Hawthorne's use of the figure of speech.
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