Creating Hemingway-Inspired Figurative Language and Context Cues

Easier comprehension for the reader; more engagement for the writer

These book-like buildings represent programmatic architecture or a structure constructed in a unique shape to catch attention. Photo by Matthew Bamberg

“…the old man was now definitely, and finally, salao, which is the worst form of unlucky, and the boy had gone at their orders in another boat which caught three good fish the first week.” — Earnest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea.

Text and image are this writer’s tools to tell stories, bestow opinions, and offer photography tips. I employ both throughout my writing, as it is a niche that meets many readers’ communicative needs.

Writing is a craft of reading. Text and image combine literary and pictorial elements used for centuries to transmit information and engage humans in the two forms of communication that make them unique from most other animals. Two communication factors can make or break the writer's and readers’ comprehension success:

1. Interpretation of figurative language such as personification, allegory, metaphor/simile, a…