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What is a Metaphor in Literature? (Definition)
A metaphor is a figure of speech that features a comparison between two unrelated things that are not literally the same. This is done to create an analogy for rhetorical effect, and can help communicate complex ideas to the reader by comparing them to something simple or familiar. For instance, if a writer were to say, “She is an open book,” this doesn’t mean the person is literally an open book; rather, it indicates she is easy to read. A metaphor has two parts: the tenor, which is the thing that is being described, and the vehicle, to which the tenor is being compared. In the previous example, “she” would be the tenor, and “an open book” the vehicle.
Examples of Metaphor
Example 1: Metaphor in The Odyssey
In Homer’s Odyssey, the king of Pylos, Nestor, says, “Nine years we wove a web of disaster for those Trojans, / pressing them hard with every tactic known to man, / and only after we slaved did Zeus award us victory.” This is a metaphor; Nestor compares the Greeks’ siege of Troy to a spider weaving its web, suggesting that it was a difficult, hard-won battle in which the Greeks had to continuously work for a long time to overcome the Trojans. He is not implying that the Greeks literally spun a web.
Example 2: Metaphor in The Great Gatsby
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Nick narrates the following while visiting Tom and Myrtle’s apartment in New York: “At 158th Street the cab stopped at one slice in a long white cake of apartment houses.” This metaphor compares the row of apartment buildings to a white cake in which each building is a slice. Such descriptive language paints a far more compelling picture than merely saying all the buildings are identical and white, and evokes an image of blandness that suggests the apartment is nondescript—perfect for a secret hideaway for Tom and Myrtle’s affair.
Example 3: Metaphor in Romeo and Juliet
In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Romeo, before meeting Juliet, is enamored with her cousin Rosaline. Plagued by unrequited love for her, he tells Benvolio, “Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs / Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes; / Being vexed, a sea nourished with lovers' tears.” This is an extended metaphor comparing love to a smoke created by the longing sighs of lovers. Requited love, he claims, removes the smoke, leaving only the lovers’ sparkling eyes; unrequited love, by contrast, is a smoke that irritates the eyes and produces a sea of tears.
Common Misunderstandings about Metaphor
Metaphors are often confused with similes. The simplest way to distinguish between them is to remember that, though both compare one thing to another, similes use the words “like” or “as,” while metaphors do not. For instance, in Shakespeare’s play As You Like It, the character Jaques says, “All the world’s a stage / And all the men and women merely players,” which is a metaphor. He is not saying the world is actually a stage; rather, he likens the world to one, and its people to actors playing a predetermined role, to make depressing and grandiose claims about life and human behavior. If this had been phrased as a simile, the beginning of the monologue might instead read, “All the world is like a stage, and all the men and women as predictable as players.”
Why Does Metaphor Matter?
Metaphors are significant because they offer the reader a richer sensory experience of a work of literature. A writer might use a metaphor to explain something particularly complex, or to lend further depth to their descriptions, by invoking that which is familiar; saying “the snow that had fallen over the town was a white blanket” offers a more complete and compelling visual than simply “the snow was white.”
Metaphors, like similes, enhance the reader’s understanding, though there are many reasons a writer might employ a metaphor over a simile. Metaphors may render the comparison more immediate and immersive. Further, saying one thing is another, rather than saying one thing is like another, might add a layer of intensity to the description and offer opportunities for further analysis. In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo doesn’t say, “Juliet is like the sun”; rather, he claims, “Juliet is the sun,” a particularly powerful statement that speaks to the intensity of his feelings for her.
