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This study, situated in the area of stylistic pragmatics, looks at the reciprocal impact of differential utterer status on figurative language in the letters of World War I soldiers. The aim is to determine how writers draw on figures to reconcile, reorder or inflect the positions that they occupy in reality, that they claim to occupy, or that they imagine themselves to occupy. In seeking to establish whether the dynamic link between figures and differential status is a direct result of the stylistic dexterity of the writers, it will look at the hypothesis of a “rupture in the power of expression” (Balibar, 1985: 406) between those schooled to primary level and to secondary level. Does the ability of soldiers to grasp and inflect differential status via figurative expression depend on their schooling? Late 19th-century France had two distinct schools, each of which promulgated a different language: primary school (ages 6-13) inculcated the language of the “Leçon des choses”, a specific approach to scientific knowledge, while secondary school (ages 8-18) promoted the language of dissertations on ideas. The relationship between figures of speech and utterer status will be studied through extracts from the correspondence of three soldiers with differing educational backgrounds, both in terms of length and content. The first extract is taken from the correspondence of André Fugier (1896-1966), holder of a baccalauréat from a private school, to his parents. The second is from the exchanges between Baptiste Lapouge (1885-1973), a weakly-lettered soldier from a state school, and his wife Suzanne. The third is from the Rivière collection: Henri Rivière (1882-1916), holder of a primaryschool certificate, to his brother Jules. An allusion, an implicitation trope, and an oxymore will be analyzed.