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MetaphorA metaphor is a figure of speech which compares two unlike objects or ideas. There are various types of metaphors, for example, a simile, "She swims like a fish". Unlike this term, which uses the words, "like" or "as", a metaphor takes something conceived and represents it with another. By using comparison, with one's prior knowledge, we understand something we don't know. Some examples of a metaphor are, 'A person feeling blue' & 'I am heartbroken'. The word 'blue' represents a state of gloominess, 'Heartbroken' expresses the depth of what this person is feeling. These words do what ordinary language cannot, describing a person's emotions and state of mind with more intensity by comparing it with another idea and giving it a visual. Metaphors are wildly common in poetry, where writers express situations, people, or things by broadening the thought of it. To further explain metaphors, we will be referring to Robert Herrick's, "A Meditation for his Mistress", Emily Dickinson's, "The Wind" & "The Mountain", and Dylan Thomas', "The Force That Through The Green Fuse Drives The Flower". An easy way to identify a metaphor is by noticing a sustained metaphor. A sustained metaphor is a metaphor which is consistent throughout the entire poem, making it obvious. As in Thomas' poem, "The Force That Through The Green Fuse Drives The Flower", "The force that drives the water through the rocks drives my red blood; that dries the mouthing streams turns mine to wax. And I am dumb to mouth unto my veins how at the mountain spring the same mouth sucks." Throughout his entire poem, Thomas speaks of this "force". As one reads on we understand hat he is referring to nature, and the connection between it and life.
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