{"id":436487,"date":"2018-05-29T10:44:09","date_gmt":"2018-05-29T10:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essaypaper.org\/metaphor-that-describes-my-writing-process\/"},"modified":"2018-10-24T09:07:31","modified_gmt":"2018-10-24T09:07:31","slug":"metaphor-that-describes-my-writing-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/metaphor-that-describes-my-writing-process\/","title":{"rendered":"Metaphor that describes my writing process"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t \"Order\n\t\t<\/div>\n
\"Metaphor<\/div>\n

Understand what a metaphor is.<\/b> The word \u201cmetaphor\u201d derives from the ancient Greek word metapherein<\/i>. which meant \u201cto carry over\u201d or \u201cto transfer.\u201d [1] A metaphor \u201ccarries\u201d meaning from one concept to another by stating or implying that one of them is<\/i> the other (whereas a simile compares two things by saying one is \u201clike\u201d or \u201cas\u201d the other). To know what to aim for, it may help to look at a few famous examples. <\/p>\n

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  • The last line of The Great Gatsby<\/i> contains a very famous metaphor: \u201cSo we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.\u201d<\/li>\n
  • The poet Khalil Gibran used many metaphors in his poetry, including this one: \u201cAll our words are but crumbs that fall down from the feast of the mind.\u201d [2]<\/li>\n
  • William Gibson\u2019s cyberpunk novel Neuromancer<\/i> opens with the line: \u201cThe sky above the port was the color of television, turned to a dead channel.\u201d [3]<\/li>\n
  • Sylvia Plath\u2019s poem \u201cCut\u201d uses metaphor to convey a painful experience in a curious tone:
    What a thrill\u2014
    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 every one. [4]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Can you please put wikiHow on the whitelist for your ad blocker? wikiHow relies on ad money to give you our free how-to guides. Learn how .<\/p>\n

    Understand what a metaphor isn\u2019t.<\/b> There are many other figures of speech that create associations of meaning between two concepts, including simile<\/i>. metonymy<\/i>. and synecdoche.<\/i> [5] However, while these are similar to metaphor, they work a little differently. <\/p>\n

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    • A simile has two parts: the \u201ctenor\u201d (the thing being described) and the \u201cvehicle\u201d (the thing\/s used to describe it). In the simile \u201cthe brownie was so overcooked that it tasted like charcoal,\u201d the brownie is the tenor and the charcoal is the vehicle. Unlike metaphors, similes use \u201cas\u201d or \u201clike\u201d to signal their comparisons, and thus they\u2019re usually considered a little weaker in effect.<\/li>\n
    • A metonymy substitutes the name of one thing for the idea of another that is closely related to it. For example, in many countries the system of royal power invested in a monarch is simply called \u201cthe crown,\u201d and in the United States the presidential administration and its authority are often just called \u201cthe White House.\u201d<\/li>\n
    • A synecdoche refers to a larger concept by using a part of that concept, as in the use of the phrase \u201chired hands\u201d for \u201claborers\u201d or referring to one\u2019s car as \u201cmy wheels.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
      \"Metaphor<\/div>\n

      Understand the types of metaphors.<\/b> While the basic idea of a metaphor is quite simple, metaphors can operate on a variety of levels from very simple to very complex. Simple metaphors may state the comparison between two things outright, as in the example \u201cHe may seem mean, but he\u2019s really a cupcake.\u201d In literature, however, metaphors are often extended across sentences or even scenes. [6] <\/p>\n

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      • Sustained<\/i>. or extended\/telescoping<\/i> metaphors span across several phrases or sentences. Their accumulative nature makes them very forceful and vivid. The narrator of Dean Koontz\u2019s novel Seize the Night<\/i> uses a sustained metaphor to describe his wild imagination:
        \u201cBobby Halloway says my imagination is a three-hundred-ring circus. Currently, I was in ring two hundred and ninety-nine, with elephants dancing and clowns cartwheeling and tigers leaping through rings of fire. The time had come to step back, leave the main tent, go buy some popcorn and a Coke, bliss out, cool down.\u201d [7]<\/li>\n
      • Implied<\/i> metaphors are more subtle than simple metaphors. Whereas a simple metaphor might say that a person seems mean, but is really \u201ca cupcake,\u201d an implied metaphor would attribute cupcake-like characteristics to the person: \u201cHe can seem mean until you get to know him, and then you find out he\u2019s all gooey and fluffy inside.\u201d<\/li>\n
      • Dead<\/i> metaphors are metaphors that have become so common in everyday speech that they\u2019ve lost the power they once had because they\u2019re too familiar to us: \u201craining cats and dogs,\u201d \u201cheart of stone,\u201d \u201ctie up loose ends,\u201d \u201cred tape.\u201d Clich\u00e9s, on the other hand, are phrases often used to convey significant meanings. In the case of \u201cred tape,\u201d legal documents used to be bundled with red tape (or ribbon) before being sent away to various offices, so a process getting caught up in \u201cred tape\u201d referred to a document that was still waiting to be examined.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
        \"Metaphor<\/div>\n

        Recognize mixed metaphors.<\/b> A \u201cmixed\u201d metaphor combines elements of multiple metaphors into a single unit, often with awkward or hilarious results. [8] The example, \u201cWake up and smell the coffee on the wall,\u201d mixes two familiar metaphorical sayings that contain similar commands to pay attention to something: \u201cWake up and smell the coffee\u201d and \u201cRead the writing on the wall.\u201d [9] <\/p>\n

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        • Catachresis is the formal term for mixed metaphors, and some writers use them intentionally to create confusion, impart a sense of the absurd, or express a powerful or inexpressible emotion. The poem somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond<\/i> by e.e. cummings uses catachresis to express how it\u2019s impossible to put his love for his beloved into words that make sense: \u201cThe voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses \u2014 \/ nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands\u2026.\u201d [10]<\/li>\n
        • Catachresis can also be used to demonstrate a character\u2019s confused or contradictory state of mind, as in the famous \u201cTo be or not to be\u201d soliloquy from William Shakespeare\u2019s Hamlet<\/i>. Hamlet wonders \u201cWhether \u2018tis nobler in the mind to suffer \/ The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, \/ Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, \/ And by opposing end them?\u201d [11] Obviously, you can\u2019t really take up arms to fight against a sea, but the mixed-up metaphor helps communicate how troubled Hamlet feels.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          Understand how metaphors work.<\/b> Used wisely, metaphors can enrich your language and enhance your meaning. They can communicate a world of meaning in just a few words (like this sentence just did with \u201cworld of meaning\u201d). They also encourage active reading and ask your reader to interpret your writing in his or her own way. [12] <\/p>\n

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          • Metaphors can communicate emotion behind actions. For example, the phrase \u201cJulio\u2019s eyes blazed\u201d is more vivid and intense than \u201cJulio\u2019s eyes looked angry.\u201d<\/li>\n
          • Metaphors can convey immense, complex ideas in a few words. In one version of his long poem Leaves of Grass,<\/i> Walt Whitman tells his readers that they are actually the greatest poetry: \u201cyour very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face.\u201d [13]<\/li>\n
          • Metaphors can encourage originality. It\u2019s easy to rely on everyday language to convey ideas: a body is a body, an ocean is an ocean. But metaphors allow you to convey a simple idea with creativity and expressiveness, something that the ancient Germanic people known as Anglo-Saxons were very fond of: \u201cbody\u201d becomes \u201cbone-house\u201d and \u201cocean\u201d becomes \u201cwhale-road\u201d. [14]<\/li>\n
          • Metaphors show off your genius. Or at least, Aristotle says so (and who are we to argue?) in his Poetics<\/i>. \u201cBut the greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor. It is the one thing that cannot be learnt from others; and it is also a sign of genius, since a good metaphor implies an intuitive perception of the similarity in dissimilars.\u201d [15]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

            Read as many examples as you can find.<\/b> There\u2019s no better way to understand how metaphors work, and decide what metaphors make the strongest connection with you, than to read works that use them well. Many authors use metaphors, so no matter what your literary tastes are, you can probably find some excellent examples. <\/p>\n

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            • If you don\u2019t mind difficult reading, very few writers in English used metaphor as well as the 16th-century poet John Donne: poems like \u201cThe Flea\u201d and his Holy Sonnets employ intricate metaphors to describe experiences like love, religious faith, and death. [16]<\/li>\n
            • The speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. are also famous for their skillful use of metaphor and other rhetorical devices. King\u2019s \u201cI have a dream\u201d speech uses metaphor extensively, such as the idea of Black Americans living on \u201ca lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.\u201d [17]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

              Tips Edit<\/h2>\n

              Understanding other figures of speech may provide additional insight into how to associate seemingly unrelated things. <\/p>\n

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              • personification<\/b>. association of a non-human (usually inanimate) object with a human characteristic. This is a way of giving depth to a description by bringing in all the lyrical baggage of a term we normally associate with a person. \u201cThe intrepid spelunkers entered the mountain\u2019s open maw.\u201d As you can see, the human characteristic need not be uniquely<\/i> human, but it often is. \u201cThe old familiar chair welcomed her back, as if she had never gone.\u201d<\/li>\n
              • analogy<\/b>. comparison of two pairs<\/i> of things, a:b::c:d (e.g. hot is to cold as fire is to ice). Analogy can be used to make a satirical point, as in \u201cMy brother says he\u2019s trustworthy, but given his track record, my brother is trustworthy like Machiavelli was humanitarian.\u201d While not linear, Spenser\u2019s 16th century analogy is subtly sublime, \u201cMy love is like to ice and I to fire. \u201c<\/li>\n
              • allegory<\/b>. an extended story in which people, things or ideas represent other things, giving the story two meanings, one literal and one symbolic. In an allegory, nearly every figure and object has a meaning. Just think of Animal Farm,<\/i> an allegory about the Soviet Union wherein farm animals revolt against their masters, form their own egalitarian society, and gradually recreate the very hierarchy that they fought to escape from.<\/li>\n
              • parable<\/b>. a story that demonstrates the teller\u2019s point or lesson. Famous examples include Aesop\u2019s Fables (ex. a mighty lion spares a puny mouse who later frees the lion from a hunter\u2019s trap \u2013 i.e. even the weak have their strengths).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                Writing is a skill. The more you practice it, the better you get.<\/p>\n

                Remember that stuff called \u201cgrammar\u201d? Well, turns out it has<\/i> a purpose. Be sure you write correctly so your audience clearly understands you.<\/p>\n

                No matter how hard you try, some metaphors just don\u2019t work. If this happens, that\u2019s okay. Just kill it and move on to something else. Maybe your muse will inspire you in greater ways elsewhere.<\/p>\n