Hyperbole
by Gabriel Fernandez



Definition
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Hyperbole is a figure of speech which makes an exaggeration to draw attention. It is included within the category of tropes;
a kind of figurative language that changes the meaning of the words, that is, words are used beyond their literal meaning.
The overstatement is created intentionally with the aim to achieve a desired effect on the public, sometimes serious, comic,
ironic, or persuasive. Hyperboles should not be taken literally. They have to be interpreted to be understood. Adynaton is
an extreme hyperbole that includes impossible events (Cuddon 9). Litotes is the opposite figure of speech of hyperbole; it
makes an understatement for the sake of emphasis (Cuddon 473).

Hyperboles are common in everyday language. The expressions, “he is slower that a turtle,” “I have not seen you for ages,”
“I’m so hungry I can eat a horse,” “I have told you to clean your room millions of times,” “you are uglier than a mole” are
examples of colloquial hyperboles. We can find many hyperboles in popular music, especially in love songs. Some examples
are the expressions: “I cannot live without you,” “without you my life is not worthy,” “do not leave, or I will die,” “I’m dying
for you, baby,” “you are my all,” “my love for you is more extensive than the universe,” “you are my universe,” and so forth.
In poetry they are pervasive, especially, in love poetry. (See example below). They are found in varies kinds of literature
from Shakespeare to the Bible. The Bible contains many hyperboles.Below, I provide an example.

Hyperboles are also common in commercials. Indeed, most advertisements make use of exaggerations to promote their
products: “there is not car like XX300,” “this is a life opportunity, call now,” “Red Bull gives wings,” “Marvelquencher is
better than water to quench your thirst.” Hyperboles also can be represented in visual arts; they are called visual hyperbole.
The caricature is an example of this since some features of a subject are exaggerated to produce an effect, most of the time
comic.


Examples in Literature
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The Bible contains many hyperbole, here is an interesting one:

“7“Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through
whom they come! 8If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter
life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire.9And if your eye causes you
to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown
into the fire of hell.”

(Holy Bible: New International Version, Matthew. 18.7-9).

The verse 8 and 9 are hyperboles. If they were meant to be taken literally, we would see many one-eyed or mutilated
Christians. Jesus used many hyperboles and parables to illustrated ideas or moral lessons to his followers and the populace.
He makes use of two actions that would produce intense suffering and detachment —gouge one’s eye or cut one’s foot—
to argue that we have to get rid of any source of temptation or people who might cause us to sin, even if in the process, we
lose valuable relationships or material possessions.



The Romantic and Post-romantic literature was rich in figures of speech. "Eternal Love," one of my favorite poems, has many
hyperboles :

English translation------------------_______ ------ Original language(Spanish)

The sun can cloud over eternally; the sea can dry up in an instant; the axis of the earth can shatter like a fragile crystal. Everything is possible! Death can cover me with its funeral shroud; but nothing can ever extinguish in me the flame of your love.

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Podrá nublarse el sol eternamente; podrá secarse en un instante el mar; podrá romperse el eje de la tierra como un débil cristal. ¡Todo sucederá!Podrá la muerte cubrirme con su fúnebre crespón; pero jamás en mí podrá apagarse la llama de tu amor.

(Bécquer, trans. H. Landman).

I love this poem. It was beautifully written. This poem is a hyperbole or a group of hyperboles if we examine it by lines.
The poet expresses that the love for his beloved is eternal. He considers that impossible events are more likely to occur
rather than his sentiments disappear. The sun cannot cloud over eternally, unless it dies (well according to physicists it
will begin to die in 5 billion years), but Bécquer did not know that by that time, otherwise he would not have chosen that
expression; the sea cannot dry up in an instant, nor the axis of the earth shatter. He was possiblyinspired by the excitement, Ramayah, Malaysia J. "The Olympic Runner."Voicesnet. N.p., 2006. Web. 30 July
2010.<http://cunydictspring2010.wetpaint.com/page/hyperbole


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Student Contributions

Phase II
(Ilona Palomeque)

Beckenson, Karl and Ganz, Arthur. "hyperbole." A Dictionary Literary Terms. third edition. New York. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1989. 156. Print.