A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that describes a subject by asserting that it is, on some point of comparison, the same as another otherwise unrelated object. Metaphor is a type of analogy and is closely related to other rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via association, comparison or resemblance including allegory, hyperbole, and simile.
One of the most prominent examples of a metaphor in English literature is the All the world's a stage monologue from As You Like It:
- All the world’s a stage,
- And all the men and women merely players;
- They have their exits and their entrances; — William Shakespeare, As You Like It, 2/7
This quote is a metaphor because the world is not literally a stage. By figuratively asserting that the world is a stage, Shakespeare uses the points of comparison between the world and a stage to convey an understanding about how the world works and the lives of the people within it.
Read more about Metaphor: Structure, Etymology, Comparison With Other Types of Analogy, Common Types, Use Outside Rhetoric, In Historical Linguistics
Famous quotes containing the word metaphor:
“—fur-petalled chrysanthemum,
squirrel-killer—
is a metaphor only if I
force him to be one....”
—Denise Levertov (b. 1923)
“If we are a metaphor of the universe, the human couple is the metaphor par excellence, the point of intersection of all forces and the seed of all forms. The couple is time recaptured, the return to the time before time.”
—Octavio Paz (b. 1914)
“A black boxer’s career is the perfect metaphor for the career of a black male. Every day is like being in the gym, sparring with impersonal opponents as one faces the rudeness and hostility that a black male must confront in the United States, where he is the object of both fear and fascination.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)