HYPERBOLE
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WHAT IS HYPERBOLE
This figure of speech is based on imagination. Hyperbole is a Greek word signifying “Excess”. According to Nesfield, by this figure of speech, things are represented as greater or less, better or worse, than they really are. By Hyperbole more is said of a thing that is expected to be believed. It is exaggeration in simple words. It aims to create a more impactful impression than a straightforward statement.
This figure of speech must be used very carefully. The mind of the hearer as well as that of the speaker should be strongly excited. It is usually the flash of an overheated imagination and a seldom consistent with the cold cannons of criticism. Hyperbole is thus a bold overstatement. It is poetic exaggeration note to be taken literally. It may sometimes be used either for serious, ironic or comic effect.
For Example;
1) Her’s the smell blood still;
All the perfumes of Arabia,
Will not sweeten the little hand!2) I loved Ophelia; forty thousand brothers
Cound not with all their quantity of love
Make the sum– Shakespeare
3) They were swifter than eagles and stronger than lions.
Human beings cannot be swifter than eagle or stronger than lions. But the only intense is to produce the line more effectively.