Metaphor
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Metaphor is language we use to compare things, but without using "like" or "as" - because that would be a simile. Another sort of metaphor is a "conceptual metaphor".
A metaphor very often uses the verb "to be": "love is war", for example, not that a writer sees "love is like war" (this is a simile). Poetry includes much metaphor, usually more than prose.
Idioms use metaphors, or are metaphors: for example, the English phrase to kick the bucket means to die.
Spam is an example that any email user knows about - this word was originally a metaphor, from "spam", a tinned meat people do not usually like. Servers putting unwanted email into somebody's inbox was similar to waiters putting unwanted spam into food. This was originally suggested by a Monty Python skit (funny scene). When we use a metaphor very often and we forget the old meaning, or forget that the two meanings are connected, this is a "dead metaphor".
Originally metaphor was a Greek word for "transfer". It came from meta ("change") and pherein ("carry"). So the word metaphor in English was a metaphor, too. Today in Greek, metaphor is a trolley (a thing that is pushed for carrying shopping or bags).
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[change] Simple metaphor
[change] Description
A simple metaphor has a single link between the subject and the metaphoric vehicle. The vehicle thus has a single meaning which is transferred directly to the subject.
[change] Example
- Cool down! [Cool = temperature]
- He was mad. [mad = anger]
- I'll chew on it. [chew = think]
In the simple metaphor, the cognitive effort to understand what the author or speaker intends is relatively low, and hence it may easily be used with a wider and less sophisticated audience.
The simple metaphor may be contrasted against metaphors which have multiple elements and meanings, for example in the compound metaphor or complex metaphor.
A simple metaphor is also known as a tight metaphor.
[change] Complex metaphor
[change] Description
A complex metaphor happens where a simple metaphor is based on a secondary metaphoric element. For example using a metaphor of 'light' for 'understanding' may be complexified by saying 'throwing light' rather than 'shining light'. 'Throwing' is an extra metaphor for how light arrives.
[change] Example
- That lends weight to the argument.
- They stood alone, frozen statues on the plain.
- The ball happily danced into the net.
A metaphor makes people think more than ordinary words. Complexifying the metaphor with additional layers makes them think more and may make them more impressed with your linguistic abilities.
The trick is to keep them with you, as over-complexification can just lead to confusion (although sometimes this may be what you are intending to do).
[change] Compound metaphor
[change] Description
A compound metaphor is one where there are multiple parts in the metaphor that are used to snag the listener. These parts may be enhancement words such as adverbs, adjectives, etc.
Each part in the compound metaphor may be used to signify an additional item of meaning.
[change] Example
- She danced, a wild and gothic fairy.
- Thick, primal, blind fog descended before his eyes.
- The car screeched in hated anguish, its flesh laid bare in the raucous collision.
Compound metaphors are like a multiple punch, hitting the listener repeatedly with metaphoric elements. Where the complex metaphor uses stacked layers to enhance the metaphor, the compound metaphor uses sequential words. The compound metaphor is also known as a loose metaphor.
