Poetic Figures 3 ANALOGIES AND COMPARISONS Simile : the explicit - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Poetic Figures 3 ANALOGIES AND COMPARISONS • Simile : the explicit comparison of two things (“like,” “as”) • Metaphor : the implicit comparison of two things • Personification : endowing a non- human thing with human qualities

Poetic Figures 3 ANALOGIES AND COMPARISONS • Simile : the explicit comparison of two things (“like,” “as”) • “similar (things)” – his argument withered like a grapevine in the fall – My love is like a red, red rose (Robert Burns) – brave as a lion – sly as a fox

Poetic Figures 3 ANALOGIES AND COMPARISONS • Simile : directs the reader’s attention to the comparison itself As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country (Proverbs 25:25) A man whose son died in the war walks in the street like a woman with a dead embryo in her womb. (Yehuda Amichai, "Memorial Day for the War Dead")

Poetic Figures 3 ANALOGIES AND COMPARISONS • Metaphor : the implicit comparison of two things • “be in a changed form” – No man is an island (John Donne) – Time is money – Life’s a beach – Life’s a yo-yo — it won’t stop going up and down

Poetic Figures 3 ANALOGIES AND COMPARISONS • Metaphor : directs the reader’s attention to the author’s point more than the comparison itself You are my sunshine, my only sunshine All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts! (Shakespeare, As You Like It )

Poetic Figures 3 ANALOGIES AND COMPARISONS • Personification : endowing a non- human thing with human qualities • “putting a mask on something” – Sometimes I think my car hates me. – Homework in this class is eating me for lunch. – The fog comes in on little cat feet. (C. Sandberg) – And, where a portal opened, winds in ranks, As though drawn up for battle, hurtled through (Vergil, Aeneid 1.82-3)

Poetic Figures 3 ANALOGIES AND COMPARISONS • Personification : creates the sense that the world is teeming with life O beware, my lord, of jealousy! It is the green-ey'd monster which doth mock The meat it feeds on. (Shakespeare, Othello ) O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! (Matthew 23:37)

Poetic Figures 3 ANALOGIES AND COMPARISONS • Personification : creates the sense that the world is teeming with life The moon methinks, looks with a watery eye; And when she weeps, weeps every little flower, Lamenting some enforcéd chastity. (Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream )