Metaphors are your thorn in your side, the bump that prevents you from reaching inspiration, the monster hidden in your…, in your… Oh curse. Metaphors are difficult - no doubt about it - but by following these instructions, they can become the cheese on macaroni of your written works!
Steps
Part 1 of 2: Understanding the Metaphors
Step 1. Learn what a metaphor is
The word "metaphor" comes from the ancient Greek word metapherein, which means "to carry" or "to transfer." A metaphor "carries" meaning from one concept to another by stating or implying that one is the other (as opposed to a simile which compares two things by saying that one is like the other). To learn what it is, it may be helpful to read some famous examples.
- The last sentence of "The Great Gatsby" contains a very famous metaphor: "So we row, boats upstream, pushed relentlessly back into the past."
- The poet Khalil Gibran used many metaphors in his poem, including this one: "Our words are but crumbs falling from the banquet of the mind."
- William Gibson's cyberpunk novel "Neuromancer" begins with the sentence: "The sky above the harbor was the color of television tuned to a dead channel."
-
Silvya Plath's poem "Cut" uses metaphors to convey a painful experience in a curious tone:
What a thrill -
the thumb instead of the onion.
The top clears away
except for a small counter
leather made…
A celebration, that's what it is. From a breach on the run
A million soldiers leave
in red jacket.
Step 2. Learn to recognize other rhetorical figures that are not metaphors
There are many other rhetorical figures that create associations of meaning between two concepts, including "simile", "metonymy" and "synecdoche". While they are similar to metaphors, they work a little differently.
- A simile has two parts: the "tenor" (the element described) and the "vehicle" (the element used to describe). In the simile "the biscuit was so burnt that its taste was like that of coal", the biscuit is the content and the charcoal the vehicle. Unlike metaphors, similes use "how" to indicate a comparison, and therefore their effect is considered weaker.
- A metonymy replaces the name of one thing with the idea of another closely related to it. In many countries, for example, the royal power vested in the monarch is called simply "the crown", and in the United States, the presidential administration and its authority are often called simply "the White House".
- A synecdoche refers to a broader concept by using part of the concept, such as defining a ship as "hull", or "my wheels" as one's car.
Step 3. Learn about the types of metaphors
Although the basic idea of a metaphor is quite simple, metaphors can operate on various levels, and be very simple or very complex. Simple metaphors can indicate a direct comparison between two things, as in this example "He may look bad, but he's actually a teddy bear." In literature, however, metaphors are often extended over several sentences or verses.
-
The "extended" metaphors are prolonged for several sentences. Their cumulative nature makes them very powerful and vivid. The narrator of Dean Koontz's novel Seize the Night uses an extended metaphor to describe his great imagination:
"Bobby Halloway says my imagination is like a three hundred ring circus. At the time, I was on the two hundred and ninety-ninth floor, with elephants dancing, clowns spinning, and tigers jumping through rings of flames. The time has come. to step back, leave the main tent, go buy some popcorn and a coke, relax and say hello."
- "Implied" metaphors are more subtle than simple metaphors. While a simple metaphor is to say that a person looks bad but is actually a teddy bear, an implied metaphor would attribute characteristics of a teddy bear to the person: "It may look bad if you don't know it, but it's actually soft and furry on the inside. ".
- The "dead" metaphors have become so common that they have lost their power because they are now too familiar: "dogs and pigs come in", "heart of stone", "burning bridges", "red carpet". Phrases like these, which are now clichés, once had a deeper meaning..
Step 4. Recognize mixed metaphors
A "mixed" metaphor combines elements of multiple metaphors into a single unit, often with strange or amusing results. The example "Wake up and smell the coffee on the wall" combines two metaphorical sayings that contain similar invitations to pay attention to something: "Wake up and smell the coffee" and "Read the writing on the wall".
- Catachesis is the formal term for the mixed metaphor, and some writers use it intentionally to create confusion, impart a sense of absurdity, or express a powerful or ineffable emotion. The poem "Somewhere I have never traveled, gladly beyond" by EE Cummings uses catechesis to express the ineffability of his love: "The voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses - / nobody, not even the rain has that little hands…."
- Catachresis can be used to demonstrate a character's confused or contradictory state of mind, as in William Shakespeare's famous soliloquy "To be or not to be" from "Hamlet. Hamlet wonders" whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer | the slingshot shots and the darts of outrageous luck | or take up arms against a sea of troubles | and, by countering them, put an end to them? "Of course, you can't really take up arms against a sea, but the mixed metaphor helps to understand the protagonist's upset.
Step 5. Learn to understand how a metaphor works
If used wisely, metaphors can enrich your language and improve the exposure of the message. They can communicate a world of meanings in a few words (as this phrase did with "a world of meanings"). They also encourage active reading and ask the reader to interpret what you have written according to your thinking.
- Metaphors can communicate the emotions behind actions. For example, the phrase "Giulio's eyes flared up" is more vivid and intense than "Giulio's eyes looked angry".
- Metaphors can convey immense and complex ideas in a few words. In one version of his long poem "Leaves of Grass", Walt Whitman tells his readers that they are actually the greatest poem: "Your flesh will be a great poem and will have its richest eloquence not only in words, but in the silent verses of his lips and his face ".
- Metaphors can encourage originality. It's easy to rely on everyday language to convey your ideas: a body is a body, an ocean is an ocean. But metaphors allow you to convey a simple idea with creativity and expressiveness, something that is much appreciated in classical literature: "body" becomes "house of bones" and "ocean" becomes "whale road".
- Metaphors show your genius. At least, so Aristotle said (and how to blame him?) In his work "Poetics": "But the most important thing of all is to succeed in metaphors. Only this in fact cannot be inferred from others and is a sign of congenital talent, because knowing how to compose metaphors means knowing how to see the like ".
Step 6. Read as many examples as you can find
There is no better way to understand how metaphors work and decide which ones are best suited to the context than to read the works of authors who use them well. Many authors use metaphors, so whatever your literary tastes, you can probably find excellent examples.
- If you're into difficult reading, few English writers have used metaphors better than sixteenth-century poet John Donne: poems like "The Flea" and his Holy Sonnets employ complex metaphors to describe experiences such as love, religious faith and death.
- Martin Luther King Jr.'s speeches are also famous for their skillful use of metaphors and other figures of speech. In his "I have a dream" speech King makes abundant use of metaphors, such as the idea that African Americans live on "a lonely island of poverty in the middle of a great ocean of material prosperity."
Part 2 of 2: Writing Your Metaphors
Step 1. Think creatively about what you are trying to describe
What features does it have? What does he do? How does it feel? Does it taste or smell? Write down any ideas that come to your mind to describe that object. Don't waste time with trivial details; for metaphors it is necessary to think creatively.
- For example, if you wanted to write a metaphor about "time", try to write as many characteristics as possible: slow, fast, dark, space, relativity, heavy, elastic, progress, change, artificial, evolution, time out, stopwatch, race, race.
- Don't censor yourself too much in this passage; your goal is to generate a variety of information that you can use. There will be time later to eliminate the ideas that don't work.
Step 2. Make free associations
Write a lot of things that share the same qualities, but still remember not to be too linear; the less trivial the association, the more interesting the metaphor will be. If you are writing a metaphor about a concept, it is mind boggling to try to compare it to an object. For example, if your argument is justice, ask yourself what kind of animal it would be.
- Avoid clichés. As Salvador Dalí said, "The first man to compare a young woman's cheeks to a rose was evidently a poet; the first to repeat this phrase was probably an idiot." The goal of metaphors should be to convey your meaning with impact and originality in a complete package: the single intense bite of a salted caramel chocolate ice cream against a full glass of vanilla smoothie blender.
- This is a brainstorming activity, so let your imagination run wild. For the example of "time", free associations could be: elastic bands, space, 2001, abyss, enemy, ticking clock, weight, expectation, loss, adaptation, change, lengthening, return.
Step 3. Decide what kind of atmosphere you want to create
Is there a particular tone you want to keep? Your metaphor needs to fit into the larger context of what you are writing. Use this method to remove associations from the list.
- For the example of "time" let's try to create a "celestial / spiritual" atmosphere. Eliminate ideas that don't fit into that atmosphere when you develop your own ideas: for the example of "time", you could eliminate enemy, 2001, weight and clock, because they are all rather "earthly" ideas.
- Try to keep in mind the nuances of the topic you have chosen. For example, if you compare the concept of justice to an animal, a "leopard waiting for a prey" gives a very different idea of justice to the image of a "tired elephant". However, both of these metaphors are more suitable than a "newborn kitten" though.
Step 4. Keep writing
Write a few sentences, a paragraph, or a page comparing the original topic to some of the associations you found. Don't worry about forming metaphors right away; focus on the ideas and see where they take you.
For the example of "time", this passage can generate a sentence like the following: "Time is the rubber band, which throws me into the unknown and then brings me back to the center". This sentence takes up one of the ideas from step 2 and attributes concrete actions and characteristics to it - the starting point of a metaphor
Step 5. Read everything aloud
Since metaphors draw attention to the mechanics of language, it is important that the words you choose "sound" good. A metaphor intended to convey softness shouldn't contain many hard consonants; one describing depth may include closed vowels, such as "o" and "u"; one that conveys redundancy may include alliteration (repeating sounds); etc.
In the example sentence generated in Step 4, the basic idea is present, but the words don't have much power. There are a few alliterations for example, which might be useful if you want to convey a sense of repetition. The idea of the rubber band also suggests something or someone who "shoots" the rubber band, and this reduces the effect of the metaphor that focuses on the "Time" performing the action
Step 6. Turn your comparisons into metaphors
Write a sentence that associates your original topic with one of the elements you wrote. Does this make sense? It is original? The sound represents the meaning well. Would a better sound make the metaphor more effective? Don't settle for the first metaphor you write; discard ideas if you have better ones.
Taking the phrase about time as an example, let's try adding alliterations and an action for time that is more independent: "Time is an eternal roller coaster; it never stops for anyone" Now the focus is completely on time, and the alliteration of the sound "t" and the sound "n" give the metaphor a sense of repetitiveness
Step 7. Broaden your ideas
Metaphors are often used as names - "Her face was a picture," "every word was a punch" - but they can also be used as other parts of speech, often with powerful and surprising effects.
- Using metaphors as verbs can give actions more impact: "The news gripped her throat with her iron fist" expresses a more intense feeling than "She felt like she was out of breath."
- Using metaphors as adjectives and adverbs can serve to give vivid characteristics to objects, people and concepts in a nutshell: "The teacher's carnivorous pen devoured students' homework and vomited up the occasional blood-stained comment" gives the idea that the teacher's pen (a metonymy for the teacher) you tear off homework and eat them, leaving behind only a trail of blood and guts when finished.
- Using metaphors as propositions can describe the actions and thought that guided them: "Laura examined her sister's clothing with a surgical eye" suggests that Laura believes she is a fashion expert who has a keen eye for detail. and that she sees her sister's dress as a potential disease that must be eradicated if necessary (even against her sister's advice).
- Using metaphors as appositions (nouns or nominal predicates that rename a noun) can add literary finesse and creativity to your work: "Homer Simpson hopping along, a round yellow pear wearing pants."
Advice
-
Getting to know other figures of speech can give you more tools to associate two concepts that seem distant.
- Personification: attribution of human features, behaviors, thoughts, traits (including psychological and behavioral) to something that is not human. It is a way to write more evocative descriptions using terms that normally refer to a person. Eg "The intrepid speleologists ventured into the open jaws of the mountain".
- Analogy: the immediate juxtaposition of two images, situations, objects distant from each other of similarity, based on free associations of thought or sensations rather than on coded logical or syntactic connections. Ex: "… The tales come back to the top to burn …" (Ungaretti, Stelle, v.1). In this case the analogy is between stars and fairy tales.
- Allegory: rhetorical figure (of content) through which an abstract concept is expressed through a concrete image. It has also been called a "continuous metaphor". Ex. The entire novel "Animal Farm" by Orwell is an allegory.
- Parable: a short story that demonstrates the writer's point of view or a moral. Famous examples include Aesop's Fables.
- Writing is a skill that can be trained. The more you practice, the more you will improve.
- Always use correct grammar when writing, so that the reader can understand clearly.
- As much as you may try, some metaphors don't work. If this happens, don't worry. Move on. Perhaps your muse will inspire you in other parts.
