LITERARY
E l e m e n t s
Paola Garcia 8A #8
L e s s o n
Metaphor
Example:
Your eyes of emerald awed everyone in the room,
distraught I felt for Cleopatra,
she never saw the most amazing emerald in the world and I had indeed,
a shining star your eyes were.
Explanation: The person is describing the eyes of a girl, which we can deduce they are green as the emerald but are not made of emerald, also the eyes are not literally shining stars, but that they were very outstanding and pretty.
The Sun Rising by John Donne
She's all states, and all princes, I,
Nothing else is.
Princes do but play us; compared to this,
All honor's mimic, all wealth alchemy.
Thou, sun, art half as happy as we,
In that the world's contracted thus.
Thine age asks ease, and since thy duties be
To warm the world, that's done in warming us.
Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere;
This bed thy center is, these walls, thy sphere.
Explanation:
One metaphor in there is “She’s all states, and all princes, I,”. This doesn’t mean that the woman is literally all states (that’s quite impossible) or that the man is every prince in the world. It means that the man thinks he and his lover are richer than all the states, kingdoms and rulers in the world because of their love.
Published Example:
Definition:
A metaphor is when a subject is regarded with the meaning or identity of another. It is one of the most widely used literary devices, not to have them confused with comparison. Metaphor is a comparison WITHOUT regarding the object using like or as.


Bonus:
Can you find the other metaphor in the poem? “all honour's mimic, all wealth alchemy.” What do you think it means?