Metaphor and Similes

Practicing with Metaphors… Finish this sentence…. “love is…” A couple rules though:“Like” cannot be your first word. Your first word cannot be an adjective (for example, bad, good, awful, cruel, stupid, sweet, etc. You get the idea.) After you finish this sentence, move on to the next slide. There will be notes you need to write down. After the notes there is an activity.

Definition of Metaphor (Notes)   Here are two senses of metaphor: A metaphor is the expression of an understanding of one concept in terms of another concept, where there is some similarity or correlation between the two. A metaphor is the understanding itself of one concept in terms of another. What???? Here is probably the definition you are comfortable with: Comparing two unlike things without using like or as, or when something is something else. Examples (English) The following sentences are metaphors: Think, what two things are they comparing? Your insincere apology just added fuel to the fire. After the argument, Dave was smoldering for days. That kindled my ire. Her hair is the color of a forest fire. Boy, am I burned up! Write down ONE definition (that you understand) and one example, in your notes.

Definition of simile (Notes) Definition (Please write down the first two bullet points. Don’t ignore the second two) A simile is a figure of speech in which two fundamentally unlike things are explicitly compared, usually in a phrase introduced by like or as. "The simile sets two ideas side by side," As opposed to a metaphor two ideas become superimposed" Make sure you write this down! This is really important to understand. The differences between similes and metaphors are considered in the observations below. In everyday conversations as well as in writing and formal speeches, we use similes to clarify ideas, create memorable images, and emphasize key points. "In argument," wrote poet Matthew Prior, "similes are like songs in love: / They much describe; they nothing prove" ("Alma").

Answer the following of questions Use the metaphors about love from pop songs in the following slides to answer the following questions. You do not have to write the questions, or the lines from the songs but you do need to answer in complete sentences: What do these metaphors say about love? In what ways do they ring true for you? Do any of them strike you as misleading, misguided or silly? Why do you think songs and poems often use metaphor to discuss love? Why use comparisons and analogies to express views about love? What other metaphors can you recall from popular love songs? What do these metaphors reveal about love? What kinds of metaphors do we use to talk about love – in songs and otherwise? What does this tell us about how love is perceived in our culture? Why are metaphors so common in love songs? Can you think of any songs that talk about love directly, without using metaphors or similes?

Metaphors about love from pop songs “Your love is smallpox” – Paul and Storm, “Your Love Is (Love Song With Metaphor)” “Love is a battlefield” – Pat Benatar, “Love is a Battlefield” “Love is a rose” – Neil Young, “Love Is a Rose” “Love, it is a river” – Amanda McBroom, “The Rose” “Love is a banana peel” – Ben Weisman and Fred Wise, “I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell,” (sung by Elvis Presley) “Oh, love is a journey with water and stars” – Pablo Neruda, Sonnet 12

Con’t. “[Love] is an ever-fixed mark / That looks on tempests and is never shaken” – William Shakespeare, Sonnet 116 “Love is a truck. Love is a wall” – Connie Kaldor, “Love Is a Truck” “Love’s a loaded gun” – Alice Cooper, “Love’s a Loaded Gun” “Love is a losing game” – Amy Winehouse, “Love Is a Losing Game” “Love is the drug” – Roxy Music, “Love Is the Drug” “Love is a song that never ends” – “Love is a Song” from “Bambi