Similes (comparisons using "like" or "as") and metaphors
(direct comparisons without using "like" or "as") are wonderful tools by which an author
relates something familiar to something unfamiliar in order to make the audience
understand more clearly the unfamiliar item. For example, in John Donne's "A
Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," he uses two metaphors. In one, he compares his love
for his wife to a compass. When he leaves, she is the "fixed foot" of the compass which
keeps him grounded, and he draws away from the center (home) to his destination. She
leans toward him, and he is forever connected to her. As his trip comes full circle (as
is the purpose of a compass), they are reunited and the compass is once again together
and erect--the two become one again. The other is that their love is like gold. You
can beat the gold into very thin strips, but it never breaks apart; so it is with their
love. It is strong and will never break even though they may be apart from one
another.
Other examples are: You are as stubborn as a
mule.
He is as graceful
as a willow.
Her eyes
are black diamonds.
He
is the Devil.
My
sister's arrogance is second only to Julius
Caesar's.
I hope this helps you to understand this
wonderful tool of figurative language, namely simile and
metaphor.
No comments:
Post a Comment