Monday, October 17, 2011

Metaphor

 We use metaphors to understand the unknown. In doing this we use what we do know and compare it to what we don't know to understand the unknown. There are many different kinds of metaphors and there are a variety of ways we can use them. These metaphors are simile, personification, anthropomorphism, hyperbole, parable, fable, animism, and analogy. A well known metaphor is " It's raining cats and dogs". It's truly not raining cats and dogs obviously but it may be raining very hard and heavy.

 Simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two different things, usually by using the words "like"or "as" and "then". For an example , "Good coffee is like a friendship" rich warm and strong. Personification is when your comparing human traits to non-living objects. For an example "Cars dancing across the icy roads" meaning a bunch of cars just driving on icy roads. Anthropomorphism is where you compare human characteristics to animals or non-living things or characters (cartoon characters) can be used. Hyperbole is mainly the use of exaggeration. For an example, "My bag weight a ton" meaning that my bag was so heavy.  Parable is a a tale or short story that demonstrates one or more lessons or principles. Fable is a story prose or verse that features animals who are given human qualities and express a moral lesson. Animism encompasses the beliefs that there is no separation between the spiritual and physical. Analogy is a similarity between like features of two things.

There is an image of 5 blind men on and around a elephant. These blind men are using there senses . For instance, one of the men who is touching the tail of the elephant infers that the tail of an elephant is like a disconnected phone line. Another man who is touching the elephants leg infers that the elephant is "like" a tree killed by global warming. Theses blind men are using simile to define the unknown. They compare the elephant which is the unknown with things they do know.

In a poem named "Joy", a metaphor is present. In the poem it says, " first blade of grass, messenger of spring". Grass doesn't have blades , it really means that the grass was becoming visual as the snow was fading away and that's a sign that spring is coming.  In another poem named "Creativity" metaphors are present. "It moves and it dances" , this expert from the poem is describing the branch. The branch isn't actually dancing but it's moving due to the wind. "It writes it's story and the ink is living light", this expert means that the sun is giving the branch a shadow .

In poem called "My Town" personification is used.  "The leaves on the ground danced in the wind". The non-living moving leaves caused by the wind are being compared to dancing, which is a human trait. "The traffic lights yelled stop! slow! and go!". The non-living lights that are constantly changing are being compared to yelling a human trait. " Stars in the sky blinked and winked out", this expert is comparing the non-living stars to winking which only humans can do. The stars are bright and are shining in and out like a wink .

"The lion and the Mouse" is a fable with a lesson to be learned. This fable is about a little mouse who happens to fall in the hands of a king lion. The mouse apoligized and convinced the lion that he might be able to return the favor one day, so the lion let him go. One day some hunter's tied up the lion and the mouse happen to see the lion and untie him, he returned the favor even with being little. This fable has animals that are given human traits such as speaking to one another. This fable also has a moral , no matter the size of something or someone you should always help one another like you will want for yourself. " Treat people the way you want to be treated".

Emily Dickinson has a poem named "Hope is the thing with the feathers", this poem is a metaphor. In my perspective hope is compared to a bird. "And sings the tune without words". This is a meatphor because hope can't sing it's just a word. Hope is being visualized as a lovely song that doesn't need to say anything because it's just so beautiful that all it needs is the instrumental. Another poem by Emily Dickinson is "Escape". An expert from the poem "a flying attitude" is a metaphor.  Escaping doesn't have feeling and emotions its is just a word . Flying is the metaphor because escaping is getting away from everything so its a comparission to flying.

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