Literary Terms - Metaphor - Simile v/s Metaphor

 

Literary Terms

Metaphor

Simile v/s Metaphor

 

The word, ‘Metaphor’ comes from a Latin phrase meaning “to carry across,” and a metaphor does just that—it carries a shared quality or characteristic across two distinct things. Metaphor is a common figure of speech that makes a comparison by directly relating one thing to another unrelated thing. It may provide clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared with other types of figurative language, such as antithesis, hyperbole, metonymy and simile.

Unlike similes, metaphors do not use words such as “like” or “as” to make comparisons. The writer or speaker relates the two unrelated things that are not actually the same, and the audience understands that it’s a comparison, not a literal equation.

One of the most commonly cited examples of a metaphor in English literature comes from the "All the world's a stage" monologue from As You Like It:

All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances ...

—William Shakespeare, As You Like It

This quotation is a metaphor because the world is not literally a stage and humans are not literally actors and actresses playing roles. By asserting that the world is a stage, Shakespeare uses points of comparison between the world and a stage to convey an understanding about the mechanics of the world and the behavior of the people within it.

Metaphor is useful in literature for using specific images or concepts to state abstract truths. For example, one of the most famous metaphors in literature is featured in this line from William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet:

What light through yonder window breaks?

It is the East, and Juliet, the sun!

In this metaphor, Juliet is compared to the sun. In fact, this figure of speech claims that Juliet is the sun. Of course, the reader understands that Romeo does not believe that Juliet is literally the sun. Instead, the comparison demonstrates the idea that Romeo equates Juliet with the beauty, awe, and life-giving force of the sun. To Romeo, symbolically, Juliet and the sun are the same.

Writers use metaphor to add color and emphasis to what they are trying to express. For instance, if you say someone has “a sea of knowledge,” you are using a metaphor to express how smart or educated they are. “Knowledge” and “the sea” are not literally related, but they are figuratively related because they are both immense things that are difficult to measure. By putting them together, you can accentuate how vast a person’s knowledge is.

Metaphor is an essential figure of speech for writers of both poetry and prose. It’s important that writers construct proper metaphors so that the comparative meaning is not lost for the reader. In fact, metaphors are dependent on the understandable combination of a principal term and a secondary term. The principal term conveys the concrete or literal entity, and the secondary term is used figuratively to add meaning. For example, in the metaphor “the car was a lemon,” the principal term is “car” and the secondary term is “lemon.” The use of lemon adds figurative meaning for the car.

Metaphors allow writers to create imagery for readers that is limited by description alone. In other words, an effective metaphor eliminates the need for excessive explanation or description on the part of the writer. Instead, by implicitly comparing two different things, an image is created for the reader to allow for greater meaning and understanding. This imagery is a powerful result of using metaphor as a literary device.

When writers utilize metaphor as a literary device, it often causes the reader to think about the “logic” or truth in such a comparison. These thoughts, in turn, may evoke emotion in the reader with a successful metaphor through the realization that the comparison is valid. This is especially effective in poetry as a means of portraying truths in a lyrical yet concise manner.

A lot of common expressions are metaphors, and this includes phrases like “heart of gold” or calling someone a rat, snake, pig, or shark. These figurative expressions are so widespread that we rarely stop to think about them.

There are many common examples of metaphor in everyday conversation and writing:

·      Laughter is the best medicine.

·      She is just a late bloomer.

·      Is there a black sheep in your family?

·      His heart of stone surprised me.

·      I smell success in this building.

·      He’s buried in a sea of paperwork.

·      Time is money.

·      No man is an island.

·      Age is a state of mind.

·      Last night I slept the sleep of the dead.

·      The new parents had stars in their eyes.

·      There is a garden in her face.

·      Our family is a patchwork quilt.

·      She has been living in a bubble.

·      Your argument is a slippery slope.

·      We found it under a blanket of sand.

·      I’m pleased to meet your better half.

·      Life is a highway.

·      Love is a battlefield.

·      You are sunlight and I moon.

·      If music be the food of love, play on.

·      Time is a drug. Too much of it kills you.

·      Hope is the thing with feathers (Emily Dickinson)

Difference Between Metaphor and Simile

It can be difficult in some instances to distinguish between metaphor and simile as literary devices. Both are figures of speech designed to create comparisons. In fact, simile is a subset of metaphor. However, they are distinguished by the presence of one of two words: “like” and “as.” Metaphors create direct comparisons without using either of these words. Similes feature either ‘like’ or ‘as’ in making a comparison.

Metaphor: All the world’s a stage.

Simile: All the world is like a stage.

Metaphor: My heart is a lonely hunter.

Simile: My heart is like a lonely hunter.

Metaphor: She was a wildfire of rage.

Simile: In her rage, she was as deadly as a wildfire.

Both similes and metaphors compare two different types of things. Unlike simile, though, metaphor makes a direct comparison without using “like” or “as.”