Metaphors Used In Poetry

Metaphors are considered to be one of the most important forms of figurative languages used in everyday speech, prose, fiction, and poetry. According to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, a metaphor is “a figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate another, thus making an implicit comparison” (Van Engen, 2008). Metaphors are used to enhance imagination of the reader when reading stories and poems. Metaphors make imaginative comparisons between two completely different objects; one object said to be another. For instance, in the poem Casey at the Bat, the author uses a metaphor to compare players to objects by stating the players are those actual

Twenty-two year old singer/songwriter Dodie Clark has become internet-famous with her cheerful jingles and poetic introspection. With over a million subscribers, her youtube channel- affectionately named “doddleoddle”- draws in countless individuals to bear witness to her hours of musical content. Dodie is known, in fact, for her ability to write lyrics which are poetry first and music second. Clark, in her 2016 song “When,” employs metaphor to invoke imagery, euphemism, and indirect self-addressment in an effort to articulate her plea that she finally begin to take initiative and live her life

Poetry in some way, shape or form, gives realistic ideas to even objects that reflect upon a part of life by using symbolism and personification.

Poems have figurative speech in them. Figurative language makes the poem more exciting. In poems the writer sometimes uses figurative language like, simile,metaphor, and personification. In the poem a Valentine for Ernest Mann there is personification,hyperbole, and smile.

According to Merriam-Webster, Metaphor is defined as 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. Hayes begins his poem with a

Both John Doone and Emily Dickinson wrote amazing poems. “Valediction Forbidding Mourning” and “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” come together to give the reader two different ideas of death in itself. There are also extended metaphors in each poem. The amazing part of both of these poems, is that you can get so much out of it from reading it over and over again. There are so many meanings to so many words inside these poems.

The use of figurative language such as symbolism and metaphors help poets to convey what they want to represent in the poem to the readers. This is very important because it can help readers relate to the poem more. A poet uses a metaphor when he wants to make a comparison between two things without using the words like or as. On the other hand, a symbol is when a word or a parts of a poem serves as a meaning or idea for the entire poem itself. In both the poems “Oranges” by Gary Soto and “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” by Wallace Stevens, both poets use many symbols to express what the poems mean to the readers and to themselves.

In poetry, there is often the use of many words that may seem a bit strange to the average reader. These words are often more complex than what is actually meant, but are used to enhance the reading and make it more enjoyable to the reader. Other words would make the poem less smooth, and that is why such complexity arises. These words shape a type of metaphor, which is referred to as a kenning.

Throughout the poem, there is heavy use of metaphor for “poem”. For example, in the first stanza, “I ask them to

Symbolism plays a large role in most poems. "A pure-white doe in an emerald glade/Appeared to me, with two antlers of gold" (Petrarch lines 1-2) is a perfect example of symbolism is poetry. Petrarch is not actually talking about a white deer with golden antlers, he's talking about a beautiful woman with golden hair. Wyatt also uses

Eliot uses metaphor to relate accessible, physical entities and concepts to more abstract themes present in the poem. In

Shakespeare’s work is among the hardest to read because of its supposed complexity and sophistication. The language used in the Early Modern Era is different than that of the Post Modern Era. Audiences that saw the performances were aural learners and were able to pinpoint certain tones and facial expressions that readers may not detect through words. Watching the plays performed provided better feedback than readings do (Palfrey 10-11). Metaphors, implicit or explicit, are figures of speech that help compare two unlike things and are not designed for literal intake. Yet, with Shakespeare’s work, metaphors should be taken literally. According to George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, however, this technique of comparison allows metaphors to simultaneously highlight and hide certain attributes and/or qualities about the thing(s) being compared to (12-13). The highlighting and hiding of metaphors gives readers more insight into what Shakespeare may have meant at the time or even more so in what context did the people of the Elizabethan Age use language (Palfrey 11). Two important components of metaphors that do the highlighting and hiding are the vehicle and the tenor; each can be implicit or explicit as well. The metaphor in question emphasizes both the importance and unimportance of Lavinia’s character.

What differentiates poem from other works of writing? What makes you realize that what you read is a poem but not a short story? Bearing in mind that the answer might differ from person to person, I believe that the crucial difference is that the underlying message is generally not obvious in the poem, and it forces the readers to think about it for a while to understand its deeper meaning. The fact that the message is not apparent in the poem, is often attributed to the usage of metaphors in the poetry. According to Oxford Dictionary, metaphors are the “figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable”. Even though they are used for different reasons

metaphor. Which is basically comparing two things without using like or as. The poem starts

The poets also use metaphors when writing poems. Metaphors refer to the use of certain words to mean otherwise in the context of the poem. However, metaphors are sometimes hidden in the poem such that they require the reader to figure out their existence in the poem. This will be easy when the poet employs the physical environment that is well understood by the reader. In addition, metaphors will strengthen the ideas that the poet wants to pass across. Metaphors will therefore make it easier for the readers to interpret and understand the meaning that the poet intended to communicate. Shelley has used a metaphor in his poem where he states ‘…Pestilence-stricken multitudes’. He states this to indicate to the reader that he is not just addressing a pile of leaves. Therefore, this helps to understand the deeper meaning of the poem.