Stylistic semasiology

Figures of co-occurence are subdivided into three groups:
figures of identity (simile, synonymic repetition);
figures of inequality (gradation, anti-climax);
figures of contrast (antithesis, oxymoron).

1.1 Figures of replacement

Figures of Quantity
Hyperbole is the use of a word, a word-group or a sentence which exaggerates the real degree of a quantity of the thing spoken about. It is a distortion of reality for the purpose of visualization or strengthening the emotional effect. It is also an important expressive literary device, often employed for humouristic purposes. E. g.:
«One after another those people lay down on the grass to laugh — and two of them died» (Twain).
Hyperbole. It is a deliberate overstatement or exaggeration, a SD by which some property of the object is carried into the impossible, something illogical:
e.g. The triumphant arch through which I march
Is the million coloured bow.
("The Cloud" by P.B. Shelly).
Actually there are 7 colors in the spectrum, but the poet's genuine hyperbole emphasizes the beauty and radiance of the multi-colored rainbow.
Hyperboles grow conversational, become facts of the. language, losing their qualities through frequent repetitions.

I am scared to death	These are
Scores of times	mere intensifiers
I’ll marry like a shot

Hyperbole is a means of creating imagery. In Hyperbole we also find transference of meaning as there is discrepancy with objective reality. The words are not used in their direct sense.
Hyperbole differs from mere exaggeration in that it is intended to be un­derstood as exaggeration. As Potebnya wittingly observed: "Hyperbole is the result of a kind intoxication by emotion, which prevents a person from seeing things in their true dimensions... If the reader is not carried away by the emo­tion of the writer, hyperbole becomes a mere lie".
Many critics noted that hyperbole is the law of art. It throws into relief the phenomena described:
e.g. I think it will take her a hundred years to change.
2 geological ages later we heard his footsteps.
Which of the two hyperboles is genuine?