a comparison between two things, based on resemblance or similarity, without using "like" or "as"
Metaphors For Creative Writing
The term metaphor comes from Greek and means "carry something across" or "transfer," which suggests many of the more elaborate definitions:
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a comparison between two things, based on resemblance or similarity, without using "like" or "as" |
| the act of giving a thing a name that belongs to something else |
| the transferring of things and words from their proper signification to an improper similitude for the sake of beauty, necessity, polish, or emphasis |
| a device for seeing something in terms of something else |
| understanding and experiencing one thing in terms of another |
Extended or telescoping metaphor: A sustained metaphor
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The children descended upon the table, sank their talons into the cookies, inhaled every crumb, and then, perching in their chairs, ravenously eyed the ice cream on the cupboard.. |
implied metaphor: A less direct metaphor
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John swelled and ruffled his plumage (versus John was a
peacock) |
mixed metaphor: The awkward, often silly use of more
than one metaphor at a time.
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The movie struck a spark that massaged the audience's conscience. |
dead metaphor: A commonly used metaphor that has become over time part of ordinary language... including most clichés.
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tying up loose ends |
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a submarine sandwich |
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a branch of government |
simile: A comparison using "like" or "as"
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The funeral was like a wedding reception |
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He was hungry as a bear |
metonym: The substitution of one term for another with which it is commonly associated or closely related.
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the pen is mightier than the sword |
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the crown (referring to a Queen or King) |
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hands (referring to workers who use their hands), |
synecdoche: The substitution of a part for the whole or vice versa (a kind of metonym).
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give us this day our daily bread |
Why should we use a metaphor?
They enliven ordinary language.
They are generous to readers and listeners; they encourage interpretation. When readers or listeners encounter a phrase or word that cannot be interpreted literally, they have to think--or rather, they are given the pleasure of interpretation. If you write "I am frustrated" or "The air was cold" you give your readers nothing to do--they say "so what?" On the other hand, if you say, "My ambition was Hiroshima, after the bombing," your readers can think about and choose from many possible meanings.
They are more efficient and economical than ordinary language; they give maximum meaning with a minimum of words.
They provide suggestive detail that adds to meaning and feeling. By writing "my dorm is a prison," you suggest to your readers that you feel as though you were placed in solitary, you are fed lousy food, you are deprived of all of life's great pleasures, your room is poorly lit and cramped--and a hundred other things, that, if you tried to say them all, would probably take several pages.
They create new meanings. They allow you to write about feelings, thoughts, things, experiences, etc. for which there are no easy words; they are necessary. There are many gaps in language. When a child looks at the sky and sees a jet trail but does not have the word "contrail" (maybe you don't know this word either!), she is forced to say, "Mommy, look at the scar in the sky!" Similarly, when computer software developers created boxes on the screen as a user interface, they needed a new language; the result was windows. In writing poems, you will often be trying to write about subjects, feelings, etc. so complex that you have no choice but to use metaphors.
They are a sign of genius. Or so says Aristotle in Poetics: "The greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor." It is "a sign of genius, since a good metaphor implies an intuitive perception of the similarity in dissimilars."
Creative ways to use metaphors
Most books give rather boring
examples of metaphors such as my father is a bear or the librarian was
a beast. However, in your poetry (and fiction for that matter) you can do
much more than say X is Y, like an algebraic formula. Play with extended
metaphors and experiment with some of the following examples, using metaphors...
as verbs
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The news that ignited his face snuffed out her smile |
as adjectives and adverbs
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Her carnivorous pen carved up Susan's inspiration. |
as prepositional phrases
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The doctor inspected the rash with a vulture's eye. |
as appositives or modifiers
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On the sidewalk was yesterday's paper, an ink-stained sponge |
Other Examples
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Scratching at the window with claws of pine, the wind
wants in. Imogene Bolls,
"Coyote |
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What a thrill--my thumb instead of an onion. The top
quite gone except for a sort of hinge of skin....A celebration this is. Out
of a gap a million soldiers run, redcoats everyone. Sylvia Plath, "Cut" |
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The clouds were low and hairy in the skies, like locks blown forward in the gleam of eyes. Robert Frost, "Once by the Pacific" |