hyperbole

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hyperbole

hyperbole , a figure of speech in which exceptional exaggeration is deliberately used for emphasis rather than deception. Andrew Marvell employed hyperbole throughout To His Coy Mistress :

An hundred years should go to praise
Thine eyes and on thy forehead gaze;
Two hundred to adore each breast;
But thirty thousand to the rest …

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hyperbole

The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature | 2003 | | Â© The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature 2003, originally published by Oxford University Press 2003. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

hyperbole, the use of exaggerated terms to emphasize the importance or extent of something. Puttenham translated it as ‘the over reacher’. Marlowe was particularly addicted to this figure of speech: e.g. ‘Was this the face that launched a thousand ships? | And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?’ (Dr Faustus).

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MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "hyperbole." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 19 Dec. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "hyperbole." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (December 19, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-hyperbole.html

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "hyperbole." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved December 19, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-hyperbole.html

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World Encyclopedia | 2005 | Â© World Encyclopedia 2005, originally published by Oxford University Press 2005. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

hyperbole Rhetorical device in which an obvious exaggeration is used to create an effect without being meant literally, such as “the music is loud enough to wake the dead”.

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