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Explore how metaphors make direct comparisons by saying one thing is another thing.
Have you ever heard someone say 'the classroom was a zoo' even though there wasn't a single monkey or elephant in sight? How can a room full of students suddenly become a place for wild animals?
A metaphor is a type of figurative language that describes an object or action in a way that isn’t literally true, but helps explain an idea or make a comparison. Unlike a simile, which uses the words like or as, a metaphor is bolder. It simply states that one thing is another thing. For example, if you say 'The snow is a white blanket,' you aren't saying the snow is made of wool! You are saying the snow covers the ground just like a blanket covers a bed. We use metaphors to create a strong picture in the reader's mind by 'borrowing' the qualities of one thing and giving them to another.
Let's look at a simple metaphor: 'The sun was a golden coin in the sky.' 1. Identify the two things: The Sun and a Golden Coin. 2. Look for the connector: The word was (a past-tense version of 'is'). 3. Find the shared quality: Both are round, yellow/gold, and bright.
Quick Check
In the metaphor 'The clouds are marshmallows,' what two things are being compared?
Answer
The clouds and marshmallows.
To master metaphors, you must know the difference between literal and metaphorical meanings. A literal statement means exactly what it says. If I say 'The water is cold,' I mean the temperature is low. However, a metaphorical statement uses 'is' to create a figure of speech. If I say 'The lake is a giant mirror,' I don't mean you can pick it up and hang it on your wall! I mean the surface is so still and clear that you can see your reflection in it. Metaphors help us describe feelings and sights using familiar objects.
Decide if these are literal or metaphorical: 1. 'The cat is a small tiger.' (Metaphorical - the cat acts wild or looks striped like a tiger). 2. 'The cat is a furry pet.' (Literal - this is a factual description). 3. 'The homework was a mountain.' (Metaphorical - there was a huge pile of it, it wasn't actually made of rock and dirt).
Quick Check
Is the sentence 'The stars are lightbulbs in the night sky' literal or metaphorical?
Answer
Metaphorical.
Authors use metaphors to make their writing more vivid and emotional. Instead of saying 'He was very angry,' an author might write, 'He was a volcano ready to explode.' This tells the reader that the anger is hot, dangerous, and coming out all at once. When you find a metaphor, ask yourself: 'What does the author want me to feel?' By 'being the thing,' the subject of the sentence takes on all the power and imagery of the object it is being compared to.
Read this short line: 'Hope is the thing with feathers / That perches in the soul.' 1. The metaphor: Hope is a Bird. 2. The shared quality: Birds are light and can fly; hope makes people feel light and 'lifts' their spirits. 3. The action: Just as a bird 'perches' (sits) on a branch, the author says hope sits inside a person's soul.
Which of these is a metaphor?
In the metaphor 'The classroom was a circus,' what is the most likely shared quality?
The sentence 'The computer is a brain' is a literal statement.
Review Tomorrow
In 24 hours, try to remember the difference between a literal sentence and a metaphorical one. Can you turn 'The sun is hot' into a metaphor?
Practice Activity
Look around your room. Pick one object and describe it using a metaphor. For example: 'My bed is a soft cloud.'