The metaphor is a fundamental pillar of figurative language. Few tools can paint a picture as efficiently and evocatively. As such, metaphors are employed by nearly every kind of writer, whether you are a poet or a playwright. To better understand the literary technique, we’ll look at its definition, subtypes, and many uses, while providing examples from famous works.
Metaphor Meaning
Breaking down metaphors
In essence, a metaphor is a comparison between two things which suggests a likeness. There are many types of metaphors and even more ways in which they can be used to spark the reader’s interest and imagination. Before we jump into the examples, let's define metaphor.
METAPHOR DEFINITION
What is a metaphor?
A metaphor is a figure of speech where something is described with a non-literal and direct comparison to something else.
The original Greek word metaphora means to "transfer" or "carry over." Metaphors transfer the characteristics of one thing to another. For example, if you said, "I'm flooded at work," the overwhelming qualities of a flood are being ascribed to the amount of work you have to do.
It is important to note that these comparisons are never meant to be taken literally (i.e., there is no literal flood at work).
A metaphor comprises of a tenor and a vehicle. The tenor is the subject, and the vehicle is the object which the tenor is being compared to.
The similarity between the two is called the ground, while the difference between them (what makes it a figure of speech) is called the tension.
Take, for example, “His cackle was nails on a chalkboard.” The tenor is the cackle, and “nails on a chalkboard” is the vehicle. The ground between the two is that they’re both difficult to listen to. The tension is that a man’s laugh is never going to sound literally like someone scraping a chalkboard.
Let’s look at how metaphors may appear in everyday speech and writing.
What is a metaphor?
Metaphor examples
Metaphors are everywhere, but this doesn’t necessarily mean they’re easy to spot. The figurative language can hide in plain sight.
Some metaphor examples:
- “He was a bull in a china shop.”
- “The cubicle was a jail cell.”
- “The queen ruled with an iron fist.”
- “His grief washed over him in waves.”
But we don’t have to pull metaphors out of thin air. Here are a few effective uses of metaphors in literature, songs, and beyond:
- “Life is a Highway”: The title of the song by Tom Cochrane is a straightforward metaphor.
- “All the world’s a stage”: A metaphor in William Shakespeare’s “As You Like It.”
- “Her mouth was a fountain of delight”: From Kate Chopin’s “The Storm.”
- “Love is a Battlefield”: The title of the song by Pat Benetar makes a figurative comparison.
Metaphor Meaning
Metaphor vs simile
From time to time, literary devices can feel somewhat redundant. For instance, we all remember from high school English that similes and metaphors are frustratingly similar.
What is the difference between a simile and a metaphor? They both liken two wholly unlike items. Where a simile uses the “like” or “as” to compare, a metaphor frankly states something as “being.” In other words…
- A metaphor makes an implicit comparison between two subjects.
- A simile makes an explicit comparison.
Here are a few examples of similes. Note that the comparison is spelled out using “like” or “as.”
- He shrieked like a bird.
- She ran as fast as a bullet.
- The pilot’s grip was like a vice.
But similes aren’t the only kind of figurative language that get confused for metaphors.
Types of figurative language
Metaphor vs analogy
Now that you know the difference between simile and metaphor, let’s look at the difference between analogy and metaphor. An analogy is a comparison of two things used for the purpose of explanation. There are two kinds of analogies.
- An identical relationship analogy connects two relationships logically (e.g., “boat” is to “ocean” as “car” is to “land”).
- A shared abstraction analogy uses a comparison between two things to make a point.
Metaphors are most often confused with shared abstraction analogies. Take a look at some examples of them and you’ll see why.
- She was his life vest. He clung to her in moments of hardship.
- The city was a ticking time bomb; at any moment, people were ready to explode.
- Love is like a warzone– no one gets out unscathed.
Notice that with the first two examples, removing the second clause makes the phrase a metaphor.
Metaphor Examples
Types of metaphors
Metaphors come in many different forms. Implicit figurative comparisons can be obvious, or much more subtle. Here are a few types of metaphors.
Extended metaphor
An extended metaphor is a comparison between two things that continues through a series of sentences or lines in a poem.
An extended metaphor can serve as an excellent way to elaborate on a comparison. Instead of a direct metaphor like, “The singer was a cat on the stage,” an extended metaphor can get even more descriptive: “The singer was a cat on the stage. He clawed at the air. He hissed his lyrics. And at the conclusion of each song, he purred a ‘thank you.’”
For example, let’s take Sam’s monologue from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers:- “It’s like in the great stories Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn’t want to know the end, because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. Because they were holding on to something.”
— Sam
Implied metaphor
If you’re going to use a metaphor without realizing it, it’s probably an implied metaphor. An implied metaphor suggests a comparison without explicitly naming one of the elements being compared.
Implied metaphors can often be found in figurative verb usage, like, “Bob slithered out of doing chores.” Bob is implicitly being compared to a snake, even though it’s never stated.
One way to build an implied metaphor is to try removing one of the elements (the tenor or the vehicle) of a direct metaphor.
Take this sentence from The Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks.
- “Her face [was] sweating and swollen like a melon, with a pathetic froglike smile sliced across it.”
There’s a lot of figurative imagery here– “like a melon” is a simile and “froglike” is hyperbole. The implied metaphor, however, lies in “sliced across it.” A smile cannot slice a face. Banks is using an implied comparison to a knife to add to the horror of the girl’s visage.
Dead metaphor
A dead metaphor can generally be thought of as something cliche. This can occur when a semantic shift occurs over time and the original imagery is lost due to excessive use.
Using a dead metaphor is like "beating a dead horse," which itself is also a dead metaphor. Dead metaphors are still useful when deployed on purpose (e.g., when you have a character who tends to speak in cliches).
Examples of dead metaphors:
- That test was a breeze.
- Time is running out.
- He’s champing at the bit.
Mixed metaphor
A mixed metaphor is a comparison of two or more elements which doesn’t logically make sense, producing a ridiculous effect. A mixed metaphor can also refer to mixed idioms or malaphors.
Take this example: “The geyser of bad news meant any chance we had of winning lay in a heap of ashes.” The geyser and heap of ashes are mixing imagery– a rush of water wouldn’t lead to a fire.
Two ways for characters to use mixed metaphors in dialogue would be intentional or unintentional. In other words, if a character understands that they are combining two phrases, they can appear witty. If they simply don't know better, they can appear ignorant.
Visual metaphor
Enter visual metaphors. They, of course, serve the golden creed of ‘show, don’t tell.’ More so, they have the power to condense the essence of your story’s theme into a single image. What’s more powerful than that?
A visual metaphor is a representation of a noun through a visual image that suggests a particular association or similarity. Visual metaphors are closely related to symbols but not exactly the same (the former is meant to compare two ideas in an image, the latter is intended to represent an idea).
One of the founding fathers of cinematic language, Sergei Eisenstein, heavily relied on visual metaphors. One of Eisenstein’s most influential theories was that of the intellectual montage– a technique which would imply comparisons of disparate visuals through the power of editing.
In his 1925 movie Strike, Eisenstein uses the slaughtering of cattle as a visual metaphor for workers getting killed by police. This comparison heightens the violence of the scene, and emphasizes just how routine and heartless these killings were to government officials.
Importance to Screenwriters
How to write a metaphor
Now that you’ve seen metaphor examples, how would you benefit from applying them to your next literary work?
A metaphor conveys more information with less words. On the page, word choice, economy, and white space are important factors in making your script read well. If I need to describe a greedy character, I could do so in a lengthy description listing all the ways in which he’s greedy, or I can use a visual metaphor.
Instead of “Todd is greedy” try “Todd is a cheese-hoarding ship rat”. Now that’s imaginative, visual, and most important, attention-grabbing!
Finally, extended metaphors can put across your story’s theme. Recurring imagery, dialogue, and story elements clue readers in what’s important in your story.
Metaphors are an extremely helpful literary tool that can vastly improve your writing. Use them purposefully and imaginatively, and your reader will be transported to other worlds.
Up Next
Explore more literary devices
Onomatopoeia is just one of many literary devices and types of figurative language, including euphemism, oxymoron, personification. If you're a writer and want to develop your craft fully, do yourself a favor and continue this exploration. The next article on literary devices is a gateway to many of these tools that help add substance and style to any type of written work.
