Bernard Shaw's Use Of Figurative Language In The Cremation

Many are scared of death and try their hardest to avoid it but most do not know what they are avoiding. George Bernard Shaw uses figurative language to describe what he saw and what he learned during the cremation of his mother. Shaw uses ironic tones of humor and beauty to describe the cremation. Shaw describes the cremation by stating: “The feet burst miraculously into streaming ribbons of garnet coloured lovely flame, smokeless and eager like pentecostal tongues, and as the whole coffin passed in, it sprang into flame all over; and my mother became that beautiful….” Shaw’s figurative language of metaphor and irony create this image of a beautiful burning coffin when most other people would be devastated to witness this event. He compares