Metaphor= A comparison between two things that are not normally related.
Figurative Language. The writer doesn’t mean exactly what s/he says.
Example: The principal raised her hand and became a stop sign.
The principal is not really a stop sign, but her raised hand might stop students like a stop sign stops cars.
There are a few kinds of metaphors : Direct. Implied, and Extended.
A direct metaphor is a direct comparison between two things.
Example: He is a peacock
Implied metaphor is a more subtle comparison. It gives the subject the characteristics of the object it is being compared to without ever stating the comparison.
EXAMPLE: He strutted and displayed his finery.
In essence you are saying this guy is a peacock by making him act like a peacock without ever mentioning the word “peacock”. Implied metaphor is harder metaphor to achieve.
Extended metaphor is a metaphor that is extended throughout a speech, passage, or throughout a play. It is longer than one line.
Metaphors
I’m a riddle in nine syllables
An elephant, a ponderous house
A melon strolling on two tendrils
O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers!
This loaf’s big with its yeasty rising.
Money’s new-minted in this fat purse.
I’m a means, a stage, a cow in calf.
I’ve eaten a bag of green apples,
Boarded the train and there’s no getting off
EXAMPLES: Mercutio’s “Queen of Mab” speech and Romeo and Juliet’s “PILGRIM SONNET”
Simile: A comparison between two things using like or as
Example: The car coughed and whizzed like an old man upon his deathbed.
How does this relate to Shakespeare?
Shakespeare talks in metaphors. Metaphors are the seeds of poetry because they allow insight emotion.
EXAMPLE:
Nurse: Why he’s a man of wax
Lady Capulet: Verona’s summer hath not such a flower.
Capulet: At my poor house look to behold this night earth treading stars that make dark heaven light.
Symbols: An image that represents a larger idea. An image that represents invisible an ideological ideas.
Metaphors and symbols are closely related. You can think of them as first cousins.
