An extended metaphor, also known as a conceit or megametaphor, is when an author exploits a single metaphor or analogy at length through multiple linked vehicles, tenors, and grounds. Tenor is the subject of the metaphor, vehicle is image or subject that carries the weight of the comparison, and ground is the shared proprieties of the two compared subjects. Another way to think of extended metaphors is in terms of implications of a base metaphor. These implications are repeatedly emphasized, discovered, rediscovered, and progressed in new ways.
Famous quotes containing the words extended and/or metaphor:
“I have been accustomed to make excursions to the ponds within ten miles of Concord, but latterly I have extended my excursions to the seashore.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“By metaphor you paint
A thing. Thus, the pineapple was a leather fruit,
A fruit for pewter, thorned and palmed and blue,
To be served by men of ice.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)