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Welcome to the no frames page for Metaphor.<p>
<p class="volume_hdr">Metaphor</p>
A <strong>metaphor</strong> is a direct comparison between two ideas that does
<em>not</em> use <em>like</em>, <em>as</em>, <em>as</em> <em>if</em>, or <em>as</em>
<em>though</em>. Two phrases at the beginning of this chapter—“an
icy stare” and “raining cats and dogs”—are metaphors.
Note that neither of these examples uses the word <em>like</em> or <em>as</em>.
Instead the first item is directly compared to the second item. For example, the
word <em>icy</em> is used to directly describe a person’s stare, to paint
a picture of a “cold look.” To say it is “raining cats and dogs”
is to suggest a heavy downpour. In some ancient myths, cats represented rain and
dogs represented wind (for example, in Nordic mythology, both animals were associated
with the storm god, Odin). Often a metaphor uses words such as <em>is</em>, <em>are</em>,
or <em>were</em> to make the direct comparison between the two ideas. For example,
“Faith is my anchor” sets up a direct link between faith and the traits
of an anchor. Thus the metaphor paints a picture of faith as an ideal that lies
beneath a person’s everyday life, out of sight, yet holds that person’s
life steady so that it cannot drift. Because a metaphor is a figure of speech
that cannot be taken literally, the skilled reader must interpret the author’s
meaning.
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