Hyperbole in English and Arabic Selected Poems: A Contrastive Study

Abstract

Hyperbole is one of the most important figurative devices that are used in most languages, it can be found in literary works whether they are spoken or written. its main purpose is to exaggerate point of views, emotion, feelings, attitudes and thoughts by the author or even the speakers, since it can be found in everyday language of various speech communities. This study investigates hyperbole in order to figure out the way in which it is involved in poetry, also the study aims to show the definitions, uses, ways in which hyperbole is used as well as to search what are the purposes behind using this device. The study shows different views and strategies concerning hyperbole in English and Arabic, then it analyses the occurrences of hyperbole within the selected data which is four poems in two different languages, English and Arabic.