Metaphors - phrases making comparisons

A few weeks ago (May 20), I told you about similes. Today, I am going to tell you about Metaphors. 'Proud as a peacock', 'sly as a fox' and 'eats like a pig' are some similes I mentioned in that essay. The comparison makes the statement clearer and more forceful.

He ate like a pig is more forceful than saying he overate.Metaphors are also phrases making comparisons; but in metaphors, we don't use 'like' or 'as'. Instead of saying 'he is sly as a fox', we say he is a sly fox or simply 'a fox'. The fox is accepted worldwide as a sly, cunning animal. So the reader or the listener knows at once what is meant when you say 'He is a fox'.

The metaphor, like the simile, at once creates a picture in the reader's or listener's mind. Here is a beautiful metaphor that has stuck in my mind for years. It is from a poem by Alfred Noyes I learned in school; "The road was a ribbon of moonlight". Whenever I go down my lane on a moonlit night, this line from Noyes'

 poem comes to my mind.

Here are some lines from a song we used to sing as schoolgirls:
Row, row, row the boat
Gently down the stream,
Merrily, merrily, merrily,
merrily,
Life is but a dream.

Instead of 'life is like a dream', we sang 'life is but a dream', only a dream. The metaphor emphasises that life is very short. Shakespeare said 'All the world's a stage. And all the men and women merely players' (As you like it).

This metaphor from his play is often quoted by orators and writers.

This is a line that caught my attention in something I read recently. "He was photographing the lions at a party; he had no time to talk to us". Lions at a party!! surely not. The lion is the king of beasts. The lions at the party were very important people like ministers, ambassadors, and chairmen of companies.

Those who are in the top rung of society are the lions. 'Top rung of society' is also a metaphor. A rung is a step in a ladder. 'Rung' at once creates in our minds a picture of the society divided and going up like the steps of a ladder. Those in high positions are on the top rung of the ladder, they are the lions in that society.

Some metaphors by long use, like top rung of society have become part of our daily conversation. 'Snake in the grass' is another metaphor that is used often. This metaphor of the snake is much more forceful than the direct phrase "a deceitful person pretending to be a friend".

When speaking of a vast expanse or a very large number, "sea" is used as a metaphor. Look at these sentences: All we saw from the top of the hill was a sea of green paddy. The day Pope John Paul came to Colombo, the Galle Face Green was a sea of heads.

Grade 8 students should be familiar with the poem Daffodils; it is in their textbook. The poet says, "when all at once, I saw a host of golden daffodils." Had he written "I saw a sea of daffodils', it would mean the same, but the poet obviously didn't want to use too many similes or metaphors. He starts with a simile "I wandered lonely as a cloud..."

Rain, both the noun and verb are used metaphorically. Here are some examples. 'Fire bombs rained down on the military convoy'. It will never rain roses when we want (George Eliot). "The bridal couple left in a rain of confetti." How much nicer it is to say "the twilight years of their lives" than say their old age. If someone is in the twilight of his career, the career will end soon.

Dawn is the opposite of twilight. Dawn is also used metaphorically as in "the dawn of civilization, the dawn of the new millennium and peace will mark a new dawn in our island's history. In these metaphors, dawn is used as a noun. It is used as a verb too, as in "it began to dawn on me that he had been lying all the time".

I shall sum up what I have been saying. A metaphor is a word or phrase used on an unusual way, often outside the literal sense (basic meaning) for emphasis. A metaphor is forceful only if used in moderation. Overuse weakens its impact.

Sumana Saparamadu