Student Question
What are three reasons to use metaphors in writing?
Quick answer:
Metaphors are used in writing to create vivid imagery, enhance understanding, and make text more engaging. They help readers visualize concepts, such as comparing eyes to a "sparkling pond" to convey beauty. Metaphors also aid in understanding complex ideas, as seen in Sylvia Plath's "Metaphors," where pregnancy is explored through symbolic comparisons. Additionally, metaphors enrich the text by adding creativity and avoiding dullness, making the writing more captivating and expressive.
Metaphors can enhance writing in many ways, which is why so many writers use them. Even the most amatuer writers use metaphors without realizing it.
The first reason to use metaphors is to give readers a picture in their minds of what is being discussed. If an author is trying to get a reader to see how beautiful the subject's eyes are, he or she might use the metaphor, "her eyes were a sparkling pond." The comparison of eyes to a pond helps the reader see just how beautiful the eyes are.
Another reason to use metaphors is to help readers understand a concept. Extended metaphors are especially useful for this. An extended metaphor is a metaphor that lasts for multiple lines and has symbols that keep the metaphor going. Consider Sylvia Plath's poem, "Metaphors," as an example of this. In the poem, Plath discusses what it feels like to be a pregnant woman. The speaker never comes out and says she is pregnant, but she uses symbols and metaphors throughout to show that she is. She compares herself to an "elephant, a ponderous house, /A melon strolling on two tendrils..." and later "a stage, a cow in calf." Through the use of metaphors, Plath is able to give her readers a deeper understanding of what it felt to be pregnant without actually having to say "I feel huge."
Metaphors can also be used to simply make the writing more interesting. If a writer uses literal language, especially in fiction or literary non-fiction, the writing can be boring and dry. Coming up with original metaphors helps to make the writing more interesting while, as stated above, helping the reader to understand what the author is trying to convey.
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