Analogies Figurative Language

Definition of Analogy An analogy is an extended comparison in which one thing, usually more familiar, is compared to something less familiar.

Extra Information However, we shouldn't confuse analogy with metaphor or simile. An analogy is an extended comparison, not one of just two or a few more words. In poetry, an analogy is often the complete poem.

Example Analogy The white mares of the moon rush along the sky Beating their golden hoofs upon the glass Heavens; The white mares of the moon are all standing on their hind legs Pawing at the green porcelain doors of the remote Heavens. Fly, Mares! Strain your utmost. Scatter the milky dust of stars, Or the tiger sun will leap upon you and destroy you With one lick of his vermillion tongue.

Examples Looking at a t.v. that is on, is like looking at a wall. You physically cannot see beyond it. Not having to ride the bus is like getting a hall pass in death row: smelling the sweet air of freedom intermixed with the stench of the knowledge that you have to go back.

Examples Life is like a 'penny swirler.' It goes down the tube at a constant rate till at last it drops through the hole in the bottom. The only thing that can stop it is an outside force [a person]. As our lives are like this we keep going through time never slowing down, never speeding up. Not to be stopped unless by an outside force. Till at last, we end in the ultimate hole, death.

Examples The world is a large set of colored bar graphs. Everyone, whether a different race, or religion, has different levels of talents and abilities. An unsharpened pencil is like a talent undeveloped: a whole lot of potential just needing to be sharpened and defined to a perfect point.

Examples Our volleyball team is like a mountain climber who has almost reached the top of Mt. Everest. We have worked hard to reach our goals and they are almost in our grasp, but one false step, and there is no where to go but down Life is like a dream. We get so caught up in 'our lives,' that when the situation changes greatly, our bubble is burst. What happened before has as much validity as a dream.

Examples When I was little, the best playground in the whole world was the farthest away. I would spend half the fifteen minute recess running as fast as my little legs would take me just to play on it for five minutes. Then I'd have to run twice as fast so that I could make it back to my class before the teacher shut and locked the door. Life is very much like this. You work all your life desperately trying to achieve something and after you get it, it's taken away twice as fast. Nothing lasts forever. Power, fame, fortune, or life, it's all taken away faster than it's achieved. It's all for that five minute play on the playground.

Your Turn Create an analogy that compares a school to an ant hill. Should involve at least 3 point to point comparisons. Written in paragraph form.

Sample A school is like an ant hill. (1) Everyone is always hard at work. (2) Different ants have different specialties just like the teachers in a school teach different subjects. (3) All of the ants have to work together to keep the hill running like it should run. All of the teachers in the school need to work together to ensure that students are learning. (4) If all of the ants do their job correctly, everyone in the village thrives. If all of the teachers do their jobs correctly, everyone in the school thrives.