Metaphors Something is something else

Metaphor Describing a person, place, event, thing in terms of something else – Not exactly a comparison – Description doesn’t use “like” or “as” Example: Life is a rat race: all the little rats trying to find the big cheese.

Metaphor Something is literally described as if it were something else – More powerful than pointing to a similarity Example: The earth that is nature’s mother is her tomb

Purpose of Metaphor Expressed analogy – Explains an unfamiliar concept by expressing it in terms/characteristics of something familiar Example: What light through yonder window breaks? It is the East and Juliet is the sun. – Reader might not immediately see Juliet the way Romeo does, metaphor shows his point of view