Metaphor

Metaphor Definition
Metaphor is a figure of speech which makes an implicit, implied or
hidden comparison between two things or objects that are poles apart from each
other but have some characteristics common between them. In other words, a
resemblance of two contradictory or different objects is made based on a single or
some common characteristics.
In simple English, when you portray a person, place, thing, or an action
as being something else, even though it is not actually that something else, you are
speaking metaphorically. He is the black sheep of the family is a metaphor because
he is not a sheep and is not even black. However, we can use this comparison to
describe an association of a black sheep with that person. A black sheep is an
unusual animal and typically stays away from the herd, and the person you are
describing shares similar characteristics.
Furthermore, a metaphor develops a comparison which is different from a simile i.e.
we do not use like or as to develop a comparison in a metaphor. It actually makes
an implicit or hidden comparison and not an explicit one.
Common Speech Examples of Metaphors
Most of us think of a metaphor as a device used in songs or poems only, and that it
has nothing to do with our everyday life. In fact, all of us in our routine life speak,
write and think in metaphors. We cannot avoid them. Metaphors are sometimes
constructed through our common language. They are called conventional
metaphors. Calling a person a night owl or an early bird or saying life is a
journey are common conventional metaphor examples commonly heard and
understood by most of us. Below are some more conventional metaphors we often
hear in our daily life:
1. My brother was boiling mad. (This implies he was too angry.)
2. The assignment was a breeze. (This implies that the assignment was not
difficult.)
3. It is going to be clear skies from now on. (This implies that clear skies are not
a threat and life is going to be without hardships)
4. The skies of his future began to darken. (Darkness is a threat; therefore, this
implies that the coming times are going to be hard for him.)
5. Her voice is music to his ears. (This implies that her voice makes him feel
happy)
Literary Metaphor Examples
Metaphors are used in all type of literature but not often to the degree they are used
in poetry because poems are meant to communicate complex images and feelings to
the readers and metaphors often state the comparisons most emotively. Here are
some examples of metaphor from famous poems.
Example #1
She is all states, and all princes, I.
John Donne, a metaphysical poet, was well-known for his abundant use of
metaphors throughout his poetical works. In his well-known work The Sun Rising,
the speaker scolds the sun for waking him and his beloved. Among the most
evocative metaphors in literature, he explains she is all states, and all princes, I.
This line demonstrates the speakers belief that he and his beloved are richer than all
states, kingdoms, and rulers in the entire world because of the love that they share.
Example #2
Shall I Compare Thee to a summers Day,
William Shakespeare was the best exponent of the use of metaphors. His poetical
works and dramas all make wide-ranging use of metaphors.
Sonnet 18,also known as Shall I Compare Thee to a Summers Day, is
an extended metaphor between the love of the speaker and the fairness of the
summer season. He writes that thy eternal summer, here taken to mean the love of
the subject, shall not fade.

Example #3
Before high-pild books, in charactry / Hold like rich garners the full-ripened grain,
The great Romantic poet John Keats suffered great losses in his life the death of
his father in an accident, and of his mother and brother through tuberculosis.
When he began displaying signs of tuberculosis himself at the age of 22, he wrote
When I Have Fears, a poem rich with metaphors concerning life and death. In the
line before high-pild books, in charactry / Hold like rich garners the full-ripened
grain, he employs a double-metaphor. Writing poetry is implicitly compared with
reaping and sowing, and both these acts represent the emptiness of a life unfulfilled
creatively.
Functions
From the above arguments, explanations and examples, we can easily infer the
function of metaphors; both in our daily lives and in a piece of literature. Using
appropriate metaphors appeals directly to the senses of listeners or readers,
sharpening their imaginations to comprehend what is being communicated to them.
Moreover, it gives a life-like quality to our conversations and to the characters of the
fiction or poetry. Metaphors are also ways of thinking, offering the listeners and the
readers fresh ways of examining ideas and viewing the world.










Satire
Satire Definition
Satire is a technique employed by writers to expose and criticize foolishness and
corruption of an individual or a society by using humor, irony, exaggeration or
ridicule. It intends to improve humanity by criticizing its follies and foibles. A writer in
a satire uses fictional characters, which stand for real people, to expose and
condemn their corruption.
A writer may point a satire toward a person, a country or even the entire world.
Usually, a satire is a comical piece of writing which makes fun of an individual or a
society to expose its stupidity and shortcomings. In addition, he hopes that those he
criticizes will improve their characters by overcoming their weaknesses.
Satire and Irony
Satire and irony are interlinked. Irony is the difference between what is said or done
and what is actually meant. Therefore, writers frequently employ satire to point at the
dishonesty and silliness of individuals and society and criticize them by ridiculing
them.
Examples of Satire in Everyday Life
Most political cartoons which we witness every day in newspapers and magazines
are examples of satire. These cartoons criticize some recent actions of political
figures in a comical way.
Some shows on television are satire examples like The Daily Show, The Colbert
Report, and The Larry Sanders Show. These shows claim to target what they think
are stupid political and social viewpoints.
Let us see a sample of Stephen Colberts social satire:
If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesnt help the poor, either we have to pretend that
Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or weve got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love
the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just dont want to do it.
Satire Examples in Literature
Example #1
There are numerous examples of satire in Mark Twains Huckleberry Finn. He uses
satire as a tool to share his ideas and opinion on slavery, human nature and many
other issues that afflicted American society at that time.
Below are a few citations from the novel that demonstrate satire:
Whats the use you learning to do right, when its troublesome to do right and
isnt no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just the same? (Chap 16)
There warnt anybody at the church, except maybe a hog or two, for there
warnt any lock on the door, and hogs likes a puncheon floor in summer-time
because its cool. If you notice, most folks dont go to church only when
theyve got to; but a hog is different. (Chap 18)
The pitifulest thing out is a mob; thats what an army isa mob; they dont
fight with courage thats born in them, but with courage thats borrowed from
their mass, and from their officers. But a mob without any man at the head of
it is beneath pitifulness. (chap 22)
Example #2
Alexander Popes The Rape of the Lock is an example of poetic satire in which he
has satirized the upper middle class of eighteenth century England. It exposes the
vanity of young fashionable ladies and gentlemen and the frivolity of their actions.
For example, Pope says about Belinda after losing her lock of hair:
Whether the nymph shall break Dianas law,
Or some frail china jar receive a flaw,
Or stain her honor, or her new brocade
The line mocks at the values of the fashionable class of that age. The trivial things
were thought of as equal to significant things. For Belinda, the loss of her virtue
becomes equal to a China jar being cracked.
Example #3
Jonathan Swifts Gulliver Travels is one of the finest satirical works in English
Literature. Swift relentlessly satirizes politics, religion, and Western Culture.
Criticizing party politics in England, Swift writes,
that for above seventy Moons past there have been two struggling Parties in this
Empire, under the Names of Tramecksan and Slamecksan from the high and low Heels
on their shoes, by which they distinguish themselves.
During Swifts times, two rival political parties, the Whigs and the Tories, dominated
the English political scene. Similarly, The Kingdom of Lilliput is dominated by two
parties distinguished by the size of the heels of their boots. By the trivial disputes
between the two Lilliputian parties, Swift satirizes the minor disputes of the two
English parties of his period.
Function of Satire
The role of satire is to ridicule or criticize those vices in the society, which the writer
considers a threat to civilization. The writer considers it his obligation to expose
these vices for the betterment of humanity. Therefore, the function of satire is not to
make others laugh at persons or ideas they make fun of. It intends to warn the public
and to change their opinions about the prevailing corruption/conditions in society.







Persona
Definition of Persona
The term persona has been derived from a Latin word persona that means the
mask of an actor, and is therefore etymologically linked to the dramatis
personae which refers to the list of characters and cast in a play or a drama. It is also
known as a theatrical mask. It can be defined in a literary work as a voice or an
assumed role of a character that represents the thoughts of a writer or a specific
person the writer wants to present as his mouthpiece. Most of the time,
the dramatis personae are identified with the writers though sometimes a persona
can be a character or an unknown narrator. Examples of persona are found not only
in dramas but in poems and novels, too.Examples of persona in Literature
Example #1
Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question.
Oh, do not ask, What is it?
Let us go and make our visit.
In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.
(The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot)
These are the initial fifteen lines of the poem Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. The
speaker is a persona of T. S. Eliot that he wants to present before the world though
the poet himself is not suffering from the same mental conflict.
Example #2
Thats my last Duchess painted on the wall,
Looking as if she were alive. I call
That piece a wonder, now: Fra Pandolfs hands.
Willt please you sit and look at her? I said
Fra Pandolf by design, for never read
At starting, is my object. Nay, well go
Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though,
Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity,
Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!
(My Last Duchess by Robert Browning)
This poem is a dramatic monologue (uses persona). The poet mainly communicates
about the shocking appearance of the duke character. In this stanza the persona is
discussing the painting as the monologue opens. Through simple technique the poet
describes the superficiality of the dukes character though it seems to be the voice of
the poet put into the mouth of the duke.
Example #3
An excerpt from The Old Man and Sea
He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone
eighty-four days now without taking a fish. In the first forty days a boy had been with him.
But after forty days without a fish the boys parents had told him that the old man was
now definitely and finally salao, which is the worst form of unlucky.
The sail was patched with flour sacks and, furled, it looked like the flag of permanent
defeat..
The first paragraph of this book sounds as if Hemingway himself is Santiago.
Through the characterization of Santiago, Hemingway is expressing his belief in the
struggle against unconquerable natural forces of the world. However, it is up to the
persona (Santiago) to determine whether he wants to change his luck or not.
Example #4
An excerpt from Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Now when I was a little chap I had a passion for maps. I would look for hours at South
America, or Africa, or Australia, and lose myself in all the glories of exploration., and
when I saw one that looked particularly inviting on a map (but they all look that) I would
put my finger on it and say, When I grow up I will go there Well, I havent been there
yet, and shall not try now. The glamours off. well, we wont talk about that...
Marlow is probably one of the most famous persona examples in novels. In this
novel, Marlow is used as Conrads mouthpiece. In this extract, Conrad is telling us
through Marlow about his own visit to the Congo and his experiences of sailing to
distant places and his boyhood ambition of sailing. Hence, Marlow is used as a
persona in this novel.
Function of Persona
The speaker of a dramatic monologue is also known as a persona. Such a
monologue is presented without commentary or analysis. However, emphasis is laid
on subjective qualities and finally left up to the audience to interpret it. In literature,
authors use persona to express their ideas, beliefs and voices they are not able to
express freely due to some restrictions or that they cannot put into words otherwise.
Persona is also sometimes a role a person or a character assumes in public or in the
society he lives in.