www . Metaphorology . com
Metaphors In Poems
Metaphors in poems give power
to poetry. They open up the mind to new ways of looking at things.
Look at the following examples.
The Sickness
When the weight of the snow
Is taken by the sun
The grass springs skyward
With the simple force of life
I am the grass
When the weight of myself
Is melted away
By the truth of the moment.
But I catch myself
Always catch myself
Become myself once more
To write such words as these.
Dull reflections of
life
Of experience beyond language
Of joy which is killed
Always killed when spoken.
And I've caught myself
again
A contagion spread by words
And poetry appears like fever
A symptom of disease.
Obviously, one could simply
say that words (or the ego reflected in them) can be like a disease,
or that poetry can be like a symptom of some illness. These might
be useful metaphors to use when looking at some of the problems
of relying too heavily on language. But to put these ideas into
a poem makes them hit the reader with more force. Poetry appears
like fever...
Life
I had stayed in the
theater
Watching - right to the end
This movie that I hated
This movie that bored me
What can I say?
Except...
I had already paid
The price of admission
This conveys the sense of a
man as spectator in his own life better than simply describing
the idea. The title may be necessary for us to understand that
this is a metaphor for life, but once we get that, the line,
"the price of admission" is perhaps as thoroughly depressing
as it is meant to be. That is the power of a good metaphor in
a poem.
Metaphorology
Home Page | Metaphors In Poems |