Metaphors

Metaphors are those word pictures that can be captures in a word or two. Well, that's not the official definition. But it's close. I know, I know, you don't believe me. We'll okay, here it is:

met-a-phor: a figure of speech in which a word or phrase literally denoting one kind of object or idea is used in place of another to suggest a likeness or analogy between them (as in drowning in money); broadly : figurative language

See, kinda like I said.

"The ship plowed the ocean." is an example of a metaphor.

One of my constant challenges though is how create them. One suggesion I read is this:

Make a list on the left side of a page of ten nouns. On the right side write ten verbs. Now just draw a line randomly between any noun on the left to a verb on the right.

Here are some nouns I came up with:

bike
pencil
software
pen
terminal
news
doctor
vulture
sidewalk
sponge
arrows

Here is a list of a few verbs:

stabbed
sliced
bobbed
ignited
inspected
rained
bristled
whistling
spit
snuffed
bristled

Now I just match up randomly:

• The bike mopped his fallen body across the asphalt. (ouch!)
  
• His pencil stabbed the journal leaving a trail of agony upon its pages. (I had to add a few more words to flesh out the sentence. Hey, another metephor!)
  
• He madly sliced his pen through his school exercises.
  
• He fished the software from the internet.
  
• The news ignited his face but snuffed out her smile.
  
• The doctor inspected the rash with a vulture's eye.
  
• Yesterday's rained on paper was just an ink-soaked sponge.
  
• Their targets bristled with arrows.
  

It's kind of a fun exercise, and it can result in great picture descriptions. I did cheat a little here, by only showing the good ones.

...dave
"The metaphor is probably the most fertile power possessed by man." - Jose Ortega y Gasset (1883-1955) Spanish essayist & philosopher