Hyperbole is a figure of speech used in poetry that involves exaggeration to create emphasis or humor. It is not meant to be taken literally, but rather to drive a point home and make the reader understand just how much the writer felt in that moment. Hyperbole usually carries the force of strong emotion and is frequently utilized in the context of romantic love, as well as to depict feelings of despair or forlornness.

Hyperbole can be used to further the writers important themes or make a specific impact on a reader. It is a rhetorical device that helps the user make a point they wouldnt otherwise be able to. Hyperbole can be used humorously to reiterate the strangeness of a situation, the actions of an unusual character, or an odd confluence of events. It can also be used seriously to stress something dramatic.

Examples of hyperbole in poetry include:

• "She scorched you with her radiance" by James Tate
• "He was more wronged than Job" by James Tate
• "The sea him lent those bitter tears / Which at his eyes he always wears" by Andrew Marvell
• "One thousand stampeding bison thundering across the plains / Couldnt drown out the sound of my heart beating for you" by Kelly Roper
• "Ten thousand I saw at a glance, / Tossing their heads in sprightly dance" by William Wordsworth
• "A 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" by Andrew Marvell

Hyperbole is an effective literary device that can capture a readers attention and cause them to question a narrators reliability, reflect on the writers true intention, or provide a heightened effect through deliberate exaggeration.