Metaphor and Simile
Nov. 18th, 2004 07:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
odd_buttonsThe following is an excerpt from Part III of the book Making Shapely Fiction, by Jerome Stern. The first two parts are very much worth reading as well. The book is available in paperback.
Metaphor and Simile
Metaphor refers to imagery that describes something by saying it is something else:
Since metaphor says something is something else ("You are my sweet petunia") and simile says something is as if it was something else ("You are like a sweet petunia to me"), metaphor is more direct and dramatic. Metaphor creates identity. Simile establishes likeness. That doesn't make metaphor intrinsically superior to simile. Each type of image has its own uses.
Metaphors and similes can enrich your style, but, since they call attention to themselves, they'd better be worth it. They need to be fresh, lively, and pertinent. Be sure they're consistent with your narrative voice. Too many metaphors too close together can cause confusion:
Too many similes can make your readers feel that you are always saying what things are like instead of what they are:
See Imagery, Style, Texture.
Metaphor and Simile
Metaphor refers to imagery that describes something by saying it is something else:
Roger was an egg, his wife, Myrtle, a kind of absentminded duck.Metaphor is powerful because it can suggest so much in a single word. For example, egg makes us think Roger is passive and simple -- as unformed as if he weren't born yet. Myrtle as a duck implies that she fusses about, wiggles, waggles, and fluffs her feathers. And the silliness of the metaphors tells us to expect a comic story. Witty, folksy, or poetic narrators establish their voice through the appropriate metaphors.
Since metaphor says something is something else ("You are my sweet petunia") and simile says something is as if it was something else ("You are like a sweet petunia to me"), metaphor is more direct and dramatic. Metaphor creates identity. Simile establishes likeness. That doesn't make metaphor intrinsically superior to simile. Each type of image has its own uses.
Metaphors and similes can enrich your style, but, since they call attention to themselves, they'd better be worth it. They need to be fresh, lively, and pertinent. Be sure they're consistent with your narrative voice. Too many metaphors too close together can cause confusion:
Arnold and I were oxen in the snow as we pushed the car; our boots were wet fetlocks, as we tried to get the mule-stubborn engine to roar with life, to shepherd us to our expectant families in their warm dens.The New Yorker has an occasional filler called "Block That Metaphor" citing writers who have extended their metaphors far beyond their grasp.
Too many similes can make your readers feel that you are always saying what things are like instead of what they are:
Her cheeks were as smooth as watered silk and her deep brown eyes shone like topazes as we walked, on the sand, white as powered ivory, toward the sun setting like a golden yoke on the dark horizon.In your first draft don't be inhibited; let the images pour out. In revision, you can figure out which metaphors and similes to toss overboard.
See Imagery, Style, Texture.