| When you sense that a figure of
speech is being used, you can apply the framework below for analyzing in
detail the implications of the image. For instance, the first verse of
Amanda McBroom's "The Rose" is built on a sort of debate about love:
| Some say love, it is a river that drowns the tender
reed. Some say love, it is a razor that leaves your soul to bleed.
Some say love, it is a hunger, an endless aching need.
I say love, it is a flower, and you its only seed. |
Three very discouraging characterizations about love are contrasted
to the speaker's more hopeful view of love, but each is a metaphor.
Basically, figurative language compares two things that are not
comparable at first glance. The cleverness of an image resides in
finding some plausible basis of comparison. So to understand a figure
of speech, like a metaphor, you have to detect what is compared to what
else and on what basis.
For example, how might love be like a river?
| Figurative Image |
Literal "Picture" |
| 1.) love |
2.) river |
|
3.) drowns |
| 4.) (?) |
5.) the tender reed |
In this chart, the literal side (reading down the right-hand column)
suggests a picture that you can see in your mind--a flooding river
drowning the new and frail reeds along the river bank, perhaps in early
spring. So what does this violent picture suggest about "love"? When
love comes on too strong, perhaps early in a relationship, what is it
that gets "drowned," in a sense? Maybe interest or care or tenderness
can be overwhelmed by one of the potential lovers coming on too strong.
So this image might be completed by supplying the unstated portion:
| Figurative Image |
Literal "Picture" |
| 1.) love |
2.) river |
|
3.) drowns |
| 4.) (interest? tenderness? desire?) |
5.) the tender reed |
Is this a mechanical process? Well, it does seem to turn a metaphor
into a sort of equation, doesn't it? Nevertheless, if doing so can help
you see an implication that you might not have noticed, the effort and
the contrivance might be worth the trouble.
Try the next line yourself by
clicking
here to turn the page. |
VCCS Litonline
