A close friend of mine recently referenced this twitter post by shut up, mike @shutupmikeginn: ”We get it poets: things are like other things” ¾ An oblivious jab at poetry’s use of metaphor, simile, and relating through comparison in general. I admit that upon hearing it I chuckled heartily and then… cried a little in the corner. It’s curt. It’s simple. What’s more, there’s also a (seemingly) apt observation within this remark and the effect is that it bitingly belittles poetry.
Poets belabor worlds, toiling to complicate and build. We spend eons, draft after draft, and for what: merely to say that things are like other things? With such a phrase, one’s easily beguiled into thinking less of poets, their poems, & poetry as a whole. It forms an implicit voice echoing: why even bother, poets? Why labor over a metaphor? Why zap massive bouts of energy in a simile or hours into an analogy? Why not just say the sun was big, orange, and rising? Why not say sad, mad, or happy?
Dispassionate, I fell quiet. I swiftly remembered my love for poetry, though and after a quick 5 second repose, responded: “things are like other things –BUT– isn’t that so cool, though?” I proceeded to gush over how there’s something profound in the way we relate through metaphors & similes. In the moment, however, I was less than elegant and hardly prophetic.
Being a both a lover and (on my good days) a practitioner of poetry, I became curious about these mechanisms of comparison; these modes by which we relate: what they are, how to make them, and why we use them. After mulling these questions over, I decided I’d conduct an investigation. Across an intermittent series of interviews, articles, and prompts, I’ll be exploring the work horses of poetry: metaphor & simile. For our purpose in this week’s article, we’ll be focusing on Metaphor.
As defined by Encyclopedia Britannica, Metaphor is a “figure of speech that implies comparison between two unlike entities, as distinguished from simile, an explicit comparison signaled by the words like or as.” So, we‘re comparing two unlike things… But what’s so important about the difference between metaphor and simile? Lets take a look at an example I’ve written:
Metaphor: My excitement is bright sun welling in a prism of frost.
&
Simile: My excitement is like bright sun welling in a prism of frost.
Notice how the metaphor creates a qualitative leap, fusing the speaker’s excitement with the sun’s light (swelled in an ice prism) ¾Whereas the simile is merely making a comparison; This is like this, is as if to say that while they share similarities, they still remain separate. In a metaphor, the word “is” merges one with the other, avowing that a third entity has formed. This qualitative, entity merging “is” exudes confidence and force, giving metaphors their boldness.
But what are the gears and cogs of metaphor; what’s under it’s hood?
Through my research, I discovered a section in Literary terms: a dictionary exploring the anatomy of a metaphor, it reads: “In The philosophy of rhetoric (1936) I. A. Richards distinguished the two parts of a metaphor by the terms tenor and vehicle. The tenor is an idea with which another idea (the vehicle) is identified. It is in the vehicle that the force of such a comparison lies. When Macbeth says that life is but a walking shadow, life is the tenor of the metaphor in which walking shadow is the vehicle.”
With this in mind, here’s our example from before: My excitement is bright sun welling in a prism of frost.
| (Tenor) |
| (Vehicle) |
| “My excitement | ¾ is ¾ “is” denotes the fusion of entity #1. & entity #2, into a third entity. | bright sun welling in a prism of frost.” Because it features something unlikely to be compared with the Tenor, the Vehicle holds the surprise and visceral force of the statement. |
| Entity #1 | Fusion | Entity #2 |
In terms of metaphors, the best engage our senses. They imbue the reader with vivid imagery, and sensory information, allowing them a more visceral experience. This brings us to our next discussion point: Why make a metaphor?
Just as with many other figures of speech, Metaphors are a staple in every day conversation: Emily’s an early bird while I’m totally a night owl, or my room’s a disaster during final exams. Metaphors (& similes) create imagery around concepts that might otherwise seem flat. Though, as my research has unearth, there is somewhat of an expiration to how long we consider a metaphor, a metaphor. “When a metaphor, such as “the arm of the chair” has become so common that it is no longer seen as such, it is called a dead metaphor…” page 142 Literary terms: a dictionary
Generally, I think conversational metaphors create fast moving vehicles (pun intended) for our concepts to travel on, resulting in communicative shortcuts. Saying “I prefer to wake up early” or “I prefer activities in the morning, as opposed to doing things at night” is cumbersome and boring. Where as “I’m an early bird” travels fast, transporting our meaning, or the concept of being a morning person, into an imagistic world where it’s more quickly understood. Image, in this way, is employed to give us and our ideas, a universal meeting place. Metaphors don’t just make for great idioms; they also make for great poetry.
To be continued…
Cited: Beckson, Karl E., and Arthur F. Ganz. "Metaphor." Literary Terms: A Dictionary. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1975. 142. Print.
