Metaphor : Definition and Examples

METAPHOR

 

The word “Metaphor” comes from the Greek, “meta” means “Change” and “Phero” means “I bear“. Thus it means a transfer of the significance. By this figure a word is transferred from the object to which it belongs to another in such a manner that a comparison is implied, though not formally expressed.

For Example;

The Camel is the ship of the desert.

 

Here, the Metaphor consists in the implied similarity between the Camel that crosses the desert and the ship which crosses the sea.

 

A metaphor has been described as compressed simile. In another words, every simile can be compressed inti a metaphor and every Metaphor can be expanded into simile.

 

For Example;

The camel crosses the desert as the ship crosses the sea.(Simile)

 

A metaphor differs from Simile in form and not substance. In a simile the point of resemblance between two different things is clearly stated, while in a metaphor it is simply implied. Thus, the Metaphor is the development of the simile. The simile says merely that one thing is like another.

For Example;

A violet by a masy stone,

Half hidden from the eye.

 

Here, Wordsworth calls “Lucy” a violet. The metaphor clearly conveys the main idea of the poem. It represents a girl of a rare beauty who “lived unknown“. It depicts a girl of rare beauty who “lived unknown.” Likewise, a violet half hidden by a stone is something rare and beautiful that for most people “lives unknown.” (Dead Metaphor)

 

TYPES OF METAPHOR:

There are two Types of Metaphor.

(1) Live Metaphor

(2) Dead Metaphor

 

»Live Metaphor are offered with an awareness of their literal sense.

 

»A dead Metaphor has been so often used that the speaker and the hearer have ceased to be aware that the word used is not literal.

 

For Example:

 “The leg of a table, Hands of a clock”

 

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SIMILE

PERSONIFICATION

FIGURES OF SPEECH