Metaphor

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Metaphor

A Metaphor is the comparison of two UNLIKE things. Other literary techniques such as simile, personification, hyperbole, and analogy are classified as metaphors. Metaphor is the most common use of Poetry as metaphors are used with rhyming schemes most of the time, and is a way to communicate to the audience through a more artistic form. Metaphors are used to compare different objects but in a way of connecting them into one. For example Dylan Thomas wrote a poem named "The force that through the green fuse drives the flower" he uses sustained metaphor. Sustained metaphor is a metaphor that is consistent through out the entire length of the poem. Because the metaphor is through out the entire poem, it is easily identifiable. Sustained metaphor provide a inner and in depth elaboration of the poem.

A metaphor consists of many different forms such as, Personification which is giving human attributes to animals or objects. For example "The trees danced back and forth in the wind" as known trees don't have the ability to move as a human hence trees cannot dance. However the movement of the trees in the wind gave of the idea to the poet the trees looked like they were dancing back and forth hence giving the trees (non human object) human attributes which would make this metaphor a personification.

Anthropomorphism which can be describe as another type of personification but with the contrast that instead of simply using human characteristics to objects, anthropomorphism describes gods or goddesses in human forms and possessing human characteristics. An example of anthropomorphism is, "Poseidon was jealous of Zeus because he was King of all Gods and not himself (Poseidon)" which gives a God (Poseidon) human characteristic such as jealousy.

Another type of metaphor that is used is hyperbole which is an obvious and or intentional overstatement in other words an exaggeration. "He's as skinny as a bat" it's very difficult to find someone as skinny as a bat and most likely someone can be skinny but a bat is too far of a stretch meaning that last metaphor was clearly an exaggeration.

A simile is a common for of metaphor used in poetry. A simile is the comparison of two unlike things using the words like or as. "Mike's as fast as a Cheetah" you can see Mike and a Cheetah are two completely different things but by using the speed of the cheetah shows how fast Mike is.

analogy is a comparison of two things with an actual relationship. Metaphors are usually connected with relationship of either humans, animals, objects, similar or unlike things. But an example of analogy is, "wet is to dry as rain is to sun" which is a good example because they are two different examples but both mean almost the same thing in other words these words have the same relationship. When it rains you get wet and when the sun is out your mostly dry so by using wet to dry and rain to sun they show to opposites but each comparison connects with each other.

Metaphor is an important feature of poetry. Metaphors can be said to represent a figure of speech or something to represent dissimilar objects/things. An example is "John is as tall as a giraffe" even though John is a human and a giraffe is an animal with different attributes and/or characteristics. This metaphor is implying that John is very tall and the comparison with the giraffe would help the audience understand how tall John is. Metaphors are used to elaborate a lot of different emotions, comparisons, relationships, just life in general. Similes & metaphors can be easily confused at times but the simplest to remember the distinction between the two is metaphor does NOT use the words like or as, on the other hand a simile DOES use the word like or as.

Dylan Thomas wrote a poem named "THE FORCE THAT THROUGH THE GREEN FUSE DRIVES THE FLOWER" in which he uses the technique known as sustained metaphor. In stanza one line 2/3 the poem reads: "Drives my green age; that blasts the roots of trees/Is my destroyer" by the Dylan Thomas expressing this he is elaborating how the older he gets he's growing, maturing, learning. becoming wiser. But on the other hand he is becoming weaker with age he is growing older his abilities he once had are fading with age hence destroying him, basically a double edged sword. By this quote of the poem one can analyze and infer that the poet is at the point in his life where he is declining even though he has matured but feel as if slowly the instinct, "green" vibrant life is vanishing from him. By this quote alone one can tell the poem is strongly connected to the young energetic person one is at their point in life and how the individual changes through life becomes a completely different person. Another example in which the audience can focus on the main point of this poem is "The force that drives the water through the rocks Drives my red blood; that dries the mouthing streams" by Dylan Thomas writing this line in his poem he is expressing how he feels full of life even though he's young "green" life is vanishing slowly. Thomas compares the force that drives water through rocks to the force and energy of the blood inside of him.

Poet Robert Herrick wrote a poem titled "A Meditation for his Mistress" which is a really interesting poem even though the main objective of the poem is flowers. Herrick used a rhyme scheme on each stanza and none of the stanza rhyme with each other which gives the poem a different complexity and style. Herrick said in stanza 1: "YOU are a tulip seen to-day, But, dearest, of so short a stay, That where you grew scarce man can say" by Herrick saying this he means that that one day you may be visible as a tulip or a young flower but in time quicker than you can imagine your grown and not around just pieces of you are left.

Emily Dickinson wrote poems containing 4 major topics: nature, love, life and death. Her poems have a unpredictable turn of subject yet she captivates the reader by her form of language which is amazing. One poem in which she captives a lot of magical metaphors is "Success Is Counted Sweetest" as in this poem Dickinson says: "Success is counted sweetest/By those who ne'er succeed". By Dickinson saying this she elaborates on how succeeding feel so luscious when you have been preceded by failure and disappointment. "To comprehend a nectar/Requires sorest need' this word play can be lead to believe that Dickinson meant to comprehend nectar and meant it as to understand the sweet need the real need to want to be able to succeed. She also stated that to understand that sweet desire you need to have experienced suffering times and challenges. Dickinson wrote another poem named "I Took My Power In My Hand" in which she stated "I took my power in my hand, And went against the world;". By Dickinson saying this she means their is no one she can trust in this world, she took matter into her own hands and went against everyone who tried to bring her down. This was a example of Dickinson uses her life lessons and illustrates them into poetry. Dickinson wrote about life and life is intertwined with nature. Dickinson poem "The Wind" personifies en element of nature into a person who surrounds her as the poem reads "The wind tapped like a tired man, And like a host, "Come in," I boldly answered; entered then My residence within" Meaning the wind was strong enough so she heard it and she invited the wind which apparently calm her down, but on the other hand it seems she had no choice but to answer the wind and let it in.

l(aleaffalls)oneliness by E E Cummings is a poem in which he wrote using basically 4 words. (A Leaf Falls) which means the leaf is alone as he represents himself as the leaf hence he is implying he is alone in this world. Which then clarifies the word loneliness in the poem. Back in his time he only had a type writer so the word could have meant loneliness or 1(one)liness which has the same meaning really. 1 leaf equals 1 person and loneliness is alone and this poem is more about a feeling the poet had than any scheme or regulation.