Good evening!!!
I decided to kill two birds with one stone >:D
I want to analyze the common features and differences between similes and metaphors.
Common features:
So these two figures of speech in question – metaphor and simile – give colour, life and other intriguing effects to the language. Metaphor and simile are, in essence, comparison words. They compare two different things.
Differences:
Similes are the simplest figure of speech. They deploy words such as "like" and "as" to highlight similarities in two different things that are being compared.
The Metaphor also is used to highlight a similarity between two different things. However, metaphors do not make use of the comparing words "like" or "as". In fact, the metaphor is more forceful than the simile and equates one thing to the other.
Examples:
- "cute as a kitten" comparing the way someone looks to the way a kitten looks. (trite / ordinary);
- "as snug as a bug in a rug" comparing someone who is very cozy to how comfortable a bug can be in a rug (trite / ordinary);
- "as happy as a clam" comparing someone's happiness to the contentment of a clam (trite / ordinary);
- "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get" comparing the uncertainty of life to the uncertainty of choosing a chocolate from a box (original / ordinary);
- "as agile as a monkey" implying someone can move as well as a monkey does (trite / ordinary);
- "as black as coal" comparing the color of something dark to the very-dark coal color (trite / ordinary);
- "as blind as a bat" indicating that the person cannot see any better than a bat (trite / ordinary);
There we can see constructions "like" and "as", that is why these examples are similes.
We know that similes semantically divided into genuine and trite, and structurally into ordinary and disguised. I defined the types of the examples given above.
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- "Her home was a prison"
When we read this example, it is very evident that there are some characteristics of a prison which can be seen at her place.
- "Life is a roller coaster"
This is a metaphor because life is not literally a roller coaster, but the comparison is made in a symbolic sense.
These examples have metaphors because there we can see the formula A is B. And there are some other examples:
- "Language is a road map of a culture. It tells us where its people come from and where their going"
- "You are the sunshine of my life"
- Dying is a wild night and a new road.
Emily Dickinson
- Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.
William Wordsworth
LOOK THIS VIDEO ON THE YOUTUBE BY THE BAZILLIONS AND HAVE FUN!!!!! (unfortunately, I couldn`t download it on this blog)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoSBVNUO2LU
I used internet sites during my work:
http://www.writing-lovers.com/metaphor_and_simile.html
http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-similes.html