Hyperbole is the use of exaggeration or overstatement to make a point. In this post, we’ll look at how to use it effectively in your writing.
People use hyperbole a lot in everyday life. For instance, have you ever said any of the following?
These are all hyperbole (i.e. exaggerations) rather than literal facts:
The key is that using hyperbole allows you to make a point more strongly. As a result, it is also common in humour. For example:
The house was so damp I had to wear flippers instead of slippers.
Here, again, we’re not being literal! Flippers are not a sensible solution to damp in a building. But by suggesting we require diving equipment to walk around the house, we can humorously emphasise the problem.
Another place you will see hyperbole a lot is commercial copy, such as advertising. Examples include:
Like the previous examples, these hyperbolic claims are not necessarily meant to be taken literally (especially the Red Bull one). But by exaggerating and using superlatives, the companies above can emphasise their brands.
It is important to be careful when using hyperbole in commercial copy, though! If you exaggerate the abilities or performance of a product or service too much, even if it is just for rhetorical effect, you could fall foul of regulations about advertising standards.
Hyperbole is often used in fiction, poetry, and other creative writing. It works in the same way as the examples above, using exaggeration to heighten or emphasise an idea in a way that literal language cannot.
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Here’s an example from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet:
The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars.
Juliet’s cheek is not literally brighter than a star, but the hyperbole helps to show the depth of Romeo’s feelings. Similarly, in ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’, Wordsworth describes a line of daffodils thusly:
They stretched in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
A line of daffodils can’t literally be ‘never-ending’ – that’s impossible – but the hyperbole helps to paint a vivid picture of the daffodils for the audience.
In summary, hyperbole has two main uses in writing:
Whether it’s appropriate to do either, though, depends on what you’re writing. In a formal essay or report, you’re better off sticking to the facts. This kind of writing usually aims for a neutral tone, so hyperbole and exaggeration would seem out of place.
For creative writing projects, commercial copy, or persuasive writing, however, it can help you to evoke an emotional response in your audience.
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