Metaphor

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Metaphor

A metaphor is a figure of speech where two unlike things are compared. An example of a metaphor would be "loud as a boat horn". The boat horn in this example could represent a person who is very loud. A very large person could be referred to as a mountain or a giant. In poetry, metaphors are used to express elements that cannot be expressed in regular language. Metaphors are also used as a quick way of explaining something. Simile, analogy, fable, hyperbole, parable, personification, animism, and anthropomorphism are different forms of metaphors.

A simile is a comparison of two unlike things using "like" or "as". An example of simile would be "strong as an ox" or "run like the wind". Analogy is the comparison of two things that have the same relationship. Day is to night as sun is to moon is an example of an analogy. A fable is a story that gives anything non human, human-like qualities ending with a "moral" or lesson. The Tortoise and the Hare is a widely popular fable story where the reader learns that slow and steady wins the race.

Hyperbole is an exaggeration or over statement. He runs as fast as a cheetah and she is as bright as a light are examples of hyperbole. A parable, like a fable, is a story that teaches a moral. However, a parable uses people rather than animals or inanimate objects. Personification gives non human creatures human-like qualities, such as giving a fox the ability to speak. Anthropomorphism is the description of gods and goddesses in human form and giving them human-like traits such as the ability to love or hate. Greek gods were portrayed as human-like, with godly powers. Animism is the belief that animals and non-living things have souls. Animism plays a significant role in some religions.

In Dylan Thomas' "The Force that Through the Green Drives the Flower" the first stanza contains the main metaphor for the poem. In the first line of the poem, Thomas states that the "force" that "drives" nature is the "life force" that drives the protagonist. The poem gives the reader the idea that there is a relationship between the force of nature and life force of flowers and the life force that flows within humans. In the second stanza Herrick also says that that very same force that drives the water through the rocks also drives the blood through his veins. In Robert Herrick's "A Meditation for His Mistress", the first line of each stanza contains a metaphor. In the first stanza the protagonist refers to the mistress as a tulip. The protagonist is showing the reader how he feels about his mistress by comparing her to things that he believes are beautiful.

In Emily Dickinson's "The Mountain", she compares the mountain to a man sitting in his chair, almost king-like. This is an example of personification. "In his eternal chair", meaning that he (the mountain) isn't going anywhere. Another example of personification is when Dickinson says that the seasons prayed around his knees. Meaning that the seasons would only change at the bottom of the mountain. In "The Wind", she uses simile to compare the wind to a tired man. Using personification Dickinson gives the wind a voice stating that "His speech was like the push of numerous humming-birds at once from a superior bush". The wind has a presence and is treated as a guest in the protagonist's home. Dickinson also uses simile in "I'm Nobody!, Who Are You?" when she says "How dreary to be somebody! How public, like a frog.". She's comparing being public to being like a frog. She is basically saying that being somebody is a bad thing.

The E E Cummings poem is talking about being alone. A leaf falling by itself being singular. Almost every line of the poem is metaphoric. In the first line Cummings uses a "1" and an "a". The "1" representing being singular and the "a" in definition means one, like having one of something. If the poem was written horizontally it would read: l(aleafalls)oneliness. If a person were to remove the part in parentheses the poem would say loneliness. Since Cummings did this poem on a typewriter a lowercase "l" also represented a one.