PO1 - Lesson: Comparisons within a Text - Metaphors

Purple and orange spheres on a balance provide a metaphor for comparisonComparisons within a Text - Metaphors

In the previous lesson, we covered the first type of comparison: similes. We will now shift our focus to another common form of comparison: metaphors. Review the definitions below, then read the poem that exemplifies metaphorical language in poetry.

Metaphors

A metaphor implies similarities between two (usually unrelated) concepts or objects in order to reveal or emphasize one or more things about one of them, though the differences between the two may also be revealing. In a metaphor, as in a simile, the thing being compared is the main subject; the thing to which it is being compared is the comparison subject. Comparisons between objects or concepts draw on the experiences and associations readers already have with those objects and concepts. Interpretation of a metaphor may depend on the context of its use; that is, what is happening in a text may determine what is transferred in the comparison.

A simple example of metaphor, using our image: the orange ball was a floating sun on the scale.

William Shakespeare's "Sonnet 73" - Metaphors

Read the following poem "Sonnet 73" by William Shakespeare. As you read, identify the central comparison being made in each stanza.

Image note: The painting to the right is "Church at Sunset, Hyde Park" by John Joseph Enneking. It was painted in 1873.

A painting of a church at sunset by John Joseph Enneking.

That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.

In me thou see'st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.

In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed whereon it must expire,
Consum'd with that which it was nourish'd by.

This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

William Shakespeare's "Sonnet 73" - Self-Check

The comparisons in "Sonnet 73" are metaphors because comparisons are being made without the use of like or as. This makes the object of comparison the central focus of the stanza, rather than a simile which makes it secondary to the actual subject. As you read consider how each metaphor helps to establish the central idea expressed in the poem.

The final idea of the poem is also its theme: you love me more because you realize that I will not live forever. All the metaphors compare the speaker to endings and give the poem. Consider what is gained by using a metaphor, instead of just saying “I’m growing old”?

Comparison: Reflection

In this lesson, we have explored how although poetry shares Core Literary Elements with Short Fiction (i.e. character, speaker, structure), that is also has elements that affect both the sound and presentation on the page (i.e. stanzas, alliteration) and that it tends to favor comparison such as similes and metaphors. Remember that poetry is a specific genre and your awareness of what makes something poetic will help you to write about poetry with a level of sophistication.

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