2. / Columbia Encyclopedia
  3. / Literature and the Arts
  4. / Language, Linguistics, and Literary Terms
  5. / Literature: General
  6. / hyperbole

hyperbole

hyperbole hīpûrˈbəlē [key], 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 praiseThine eyes and on thy forehead gaze;Two hundred to adore each breast;But thirty thousand to the rest …

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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