Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
Metaphors, Similes, Analogies
For most of us, a day without metaphors, similes and analogies is like a day without sunshine. For some of us, certain events or observations leave us at a loss for good descriptive words, and it is in those moments that a well-worn metaphor, simile or analogy is put to use. Specifically, a metaphor is a figure of speech in which an object or idea is used in place of the actual object or idea suggesting an analogy or likeness between the two. A simile compares two objects or ideas often using the word, like. Although some examples can appear to be trite, others can be used as powerful descriptive tools that speak to the unconscious mind by the use of symbols.
In some situations, a metaphor can relay a thought or information while using the fewest word possible. An example of this can be noted in the way my friend's father, Art, is often described. "He is a pillar of the community." He is, of course, not a block of marble, but in limited terms the idea of leadership is at once conveyed. His status as a pillar, however, came tumbling down at about eleven at night one week ago.
Art, often described by many as 'a pillar of the community,' was arrested last Friday night after police caught him driving like a bat out of hell down Elm Street. This was undoubtedly the darkest day of Art's life. Handcuffed and badly shaken, he was taken to the local cooler where he was left like so much flotsam until his old lady, Brandy, posted bond in the wee hours of the following morning. It is speculated that the reason Brandy took her sweet time in dragging her can to the cooler, is that Art had been up to his armpits with an enormous assortment of gold-digging girlfriends. Looking sheepish as he was released from a jail of metal bars and taken into the custody of his marital warden, the arrest undoubtedly clipped his wings, at least for the time being.
It is through the use of familiar symbols that metaphors, similes and analogies can be used to not only paint a very clear picture, but to create a unique writing style.
How does language empower or limit the expression of our thoughts? Thus, one of the empowering aspects of language is that it can enable others to understand our deepest feelings and thoughts, because words and phrases have multiple potential meanings in different contexts. Language can enable us to make logical and emotional analogies and create connections between apparently dissimilar things and ideas we would never see otherwise, if we did not
Charles Fort's We do not Fear the Father and Louise Edrich's the Lady in the Pink Mustang, what are the metaphors, similes and allegories in these two poems? How do they enhance the meaning of the poem? A pink car signifies that she wants to be a girly-girly with a simple life, but the car, proud, and different. The car is a mustang, which is a wild, fast, and promiscuous
Upton Sinclair's The Jungle The Use of Style to Craft an Argument: Upton Sinclair's the Jungle "Sinclair uses language effectively, and in a variety of ways, to shape his characters and develop his themes" and thus effectively created a novel that outraged the public and created the beginnings of reform in American industry (Oatman 30). Upton Sinclair's most infamous novel, The Jungle, is a story of an immigrant worker forced into a
Literal Language In literature, authors have a plethora of literary devices which they can use to interest the reader and make their words more powerful. These tools provide the author with the ability to convey far more than they might have been able to without it. Unfortunately, this abundance of potential literary tools available can, in less skilled hands, make comprehensibility of written language very difficult. One of the most
The author's point-of-view is certainly visible in the text, but it is based purely on objective facts and as such the text's language remains highly objective, as well. There is no discernible overall shift in the book, though there are sentences where is personal opinion is made more clear than others. He quickly recovers by stating mitigating facts, however, remaining highly objective. There is an overall organizational structure to the book,
Therefore he establishes a strong personal ethos which he sustains throughout the remainder of the speech, (Rowland, p. 237). Reagan knew that many in the audience which he was speaking to had actually been through the very even he spoke about. Therefore, he had to establish a very personalized ethos in order to live up to their expectations of his speech; as well as to better connect the event