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Metaphor / explain
Message from san99 posted on 26-06-2012 at 01:28:59 (D | E | F)
Hello,
I was studying the figures of speech and I read about metaphors. I am here as usual with a few/some questions
Metaphor is a figure of speech in which a term is applied to a person or object with which it resembles. am I right? You can explain it in your words/definitions.
For instance,
Adam is strong enough to break the iron walls.
John fought the war like an angry lion.
Jason killed people as a wild wolf on the fold..
And from the famous poem (twinkle twinkle little star),.,.,, like a diamond in the sky.
Sarah was as slow as a turtle.
It's just comparing two nouns and making a contrast between them. Please correct me if you find anyword wrong wrong word here.
Explanation:
Adam is compared with iron walls or his strength is compared?? I guess his strength is compared with the iron, what do you think.
John is compared with a lion.
Jason's criminal action is compared with the wildness of the wolf.
Stars resembles to diamond, it's easy to identity of course.
Sara is slow that's why she resembles to a turtle. Because turtle walks slowly and slowly. It is another thing that in one story " slow and steady wins the race."
We use as, so, and like in the sentences wherein comparison is to be made between two nouns.
Here are some famous phrases that can be usedfor making to make the comparison
As black as a coal.
As dark as a night.
As black as a pitch.
As black as a skillet.
As black as an ace of spades. and the list goes on and on.
xxxxx
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Edited by san99 on 26-06-2012 01:29
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Edited by lucile83 on 26-06-2012 08:29
Last example deleted.
Message from san99 posted on 26-06-2012 at 01:28:59 (D | E | F)
Hello,
I was studying the figures of speech and I read about metaphors. I am here as usual with a few/some questions
Metaphor is a figure of speech in which a term is applied to a person or object with which it resembles. am I right? You can explain it in your words/definitions.
For instance,
Adam is strong enough to break the iron walls.
John fought the war like an angry lion.
Jason killed people as a wild wolf on the fold..
And from the famous poem (twinkle twinkle little star),.,.,, like a diamond in the sky.
Sarah was as slow as a turtle.
It's just comparing two nouns and making a contrast between them. Please correct me if you find any
Explanation:
Adam is compared with iron walls or his strength is compared?? I guess his strength is compared with the iron, what do you think.
John is compared with a lion.
Jason's criminal action is compared with the wildness of the wolf.
Stars resembles to diamond, it's easy to identity of course.
Sara is slow that's why she resembles to a turtle. Because turtle walks slowly and slowly. It is another thing that in one story " slow and steady wins the race."
We use as, so, and like in the sentences wherein comparison is to be made between two nouns.
Here are some famous phrases that can be used
As black as a coal.
As dark as a night.
As black as a pitch.
As black as a skillet.
As black as an ace of spades. and the list goes on and on.
xxxxx
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Edited by san99 on 26-06-2012 01:29
-------------------
Edited by lucile83 on 26-06-2012 08:29
Last example deleted.
Re: Metaphor / explain from notrepere, posted on 26-06-2012 at 04:50:21 (D | E)
Hello
I think you ask too many questions. One question a week would suffice.
Re: Metaphor / explain from rogermue, posted on 26-06-2012 at 08:13:11 (D | E)
Hello,
What you present above are normal comparisons with 'as' and 'like', not metaphors.
When you speak of 'the ships of the desert' or of 'black gold' and mean 'camels' or 'oil' then you have metaphors.
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Edited by rogermue on 26-06-2012 08:28
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Edited by lucile83 on 26-06-2012 08:35
Re: Metaphor / explain from rogermue, posted on 26-06-2012 at 10:12:50 (D | E)
Hello san99,
in principle the literary term 'metaphor' is not difficult, it is a kind of special comparison. But curiously enough, when you want to have some definitions or explanations you will find that most attempts are incapable. Wikipidia for instance throws a lot of literary terms of stylistics and rhetorics at your head and you will be confused. Other explanations don't get at the heart of the problem and are insufficient.
The problem is you could write a little book only about the term 'metaphor'. There are so many types of metaphors and a lot of reasons why metaphors are used that a real presentation of the term would be a lengthy story with a lot of examples.
You find metaphors in word formation. We speak of 'the leg of a chair'. Because we had no special word for this part of the chair we used the technique of the metaphor and compared that part of the chair to the analogous part of the human body. In word formation you will find hundreds of metaphors of this type.
There is another need for metaphors. Sometimes we find the use of some words too direct or not adequate or polite. For example 'to die' can awake very negative associations. So soldiers never die on the battle field. We say he 'fell' in the last war.
Or if we say 'He spent the evening of his life in Italy' this is a beautiful expression for: When he was old he moved to Italy. Here we simply want to avoid the negative associations of the word 'old' or 'old age'.
Of course, poets and writers use a lot of metaphors as it is artistic to use new expressions for everyday terms. Already the Romans had found out that 'varietas delectat' (variety is a joy).
One characteristic of a metaphor is that there are no special words as 'like' or 'as' to indicate the comparison.
Metaphors are new expressions for normal words by using picture language and analogy.
I hope my explanations will help you to get a better understanding of the term metaphor. I'm sorry that I can't do it better, it is the first time that I try to explain that term and that in a foreign language. But in German I could not do it better, as I have no collection of, let's say a hundred metaphors, in poetry, in word formation, in etymology and semantics. But I think my lines will be enough for a better understanding.
PS One last idea: The Greek word metaphor consists of the Greek word element meta meaning trans or over and the Greek word element phor from pherein to carry. 'metaphor' simply means 'transfer' The meaning of a word such as 'leg' is transferred from its normal area 'body' to a part of the chair.
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Edited by rogermue on 26-06-2012 10:15
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Edited by rogermue on 26-06-2012 10:21
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Edited by lucile83 on 26-06-2012 10:25
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