A note on metaphors
Hi guys,
Just a reminder of this definition on a metaphor, from the Blog Post 3.2 assignment:
A metaphor is a comparison between two unrelated nouns. Nouns.
So, love (noun) is a battlefield (noun) is a metaphor.
Love is beautiful (adjective) is not. That’s just an example of using the adjective, beautiful, to describe the noun, love.
Sometimes you can use a verb or adjective that doesn’t naturally “belong” with a noun, and thereby suggest a metaphor. For instance, if you say “The carnivorous (adjective) pencil (noun) devoured (verb) the page,” you’re personifying the pencil and thus making (I would argue) a metaphor. But the surest way to make sure you’re crafting a metaphor is to compare a noun to another noun.
Check your lists to make sure you’re not merely describing a noun with an adjective–especially one that isn’t surprising or doesn’t defamiliarize the noun–since that doesn’t make a metaphor.
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