Metaphor

Metaphor

A metaphor is a word or phrase which makes a comparison between two unlikely subjects. The comparison made by metaphors only make sense figuratively, and not literally. In the statement “My love is a rose” a metaphoric comparison is being made between the object of the speaker's love, and a rose. So does this mean that our speaker has an unhealthy attraction to plants? Of course not, this comparison is a figurative one. However, this figurative comparison does get at a deeper truth that explains the relationship between the speaker's 'love' and a 'rose'. Like a rose, love is a beautiful thing. Love can also be painful, as when one accidentally pricks their finger on the thorns attached to a rose.
The comparisons made in a metaphor add to the imagery of a poem and make comparisons between two unlike subjects that adds a deeper dynamic to a poem.

Read the following poem written by William Shakespeare entitled “The Seven Ages Of Man”. As you read along jot down instances where Shakespeare uses metaphor and explain what you believe Shakespeare is trying to say.

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel,
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lin'd,
With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose well sav'd a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
In this poem Shakespeare uses the stage as a metaphor of life. This isn't necessarily surprising considering that Shakespeare was a play write.

Assignment
Download “The Season” by Jane Thompson and identify the poet's use of metaphor.