Source: BSHS Cape Mannequin, Jeffry O. Gustafson, Wikimedia
Sometimes, an author might use an extended metaphor. An extended metaphor is a metaphor in which the comparison is carried through several lines or even an entire literary work.
Using an extended metaphor, an author can suggest several qualities through comparison rather than just one. For example, examine Shakespeare’s metaphor below, which extends the one line you studied in the previous section (“All the world's a stage”). In this extended metaphor, each line reveals an additional quality implied by the comparison of the world to a stage. Click, hold, and move your cursor in a circular motion on the dial below. As you slowly turn the dial, read about the qualities revealed by each line.
This metaphor has several effects: The reader realizes that life is not just one act but a series of them. People will experience many events, will play many parts, and will experience new challenges and triumphs at each stage of life.
You try it. Study the following poem by Emily Dickinson, and then answer the questions about the various effects created by her use of the extended metaphor.
Hope is the Thing with Feathers
By Emily Dickinson
Source: Emily Dickinson, Amherst College, Flickr
“Hope” is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the Gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm.
I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest Sea;
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
Source: Superhero, Thibault fr, Wikimedia
As a final exercise—because you are now feeling like a superhero yourself—use your notes to create your own extended metaphor in a poem in which you compare two unlike things. Try to write about at least three qualities that the two things share. Answers will vary. Here are a few ideas that may help get you started. No sample response is provided since answers will vary.
Source: “WIN” football, WIN football, Wikimedia
Example: Football is a battle.
- Both have two teams or armies.
- Both take orders from a coach or commander.
- Both use attacks on the ground and from the air.
Source: Lebron James NBA 2K14, Javier Dominguez Ferriero, Flickr
Example: LeBron James is a bird.
- Both soar above the ground.
- Both are members of a larger flock or team.
- Both move in ways that are free and wonderful to watch.
Source: snowflakes, Stefano Berti, Flickr
Example: Children are snowflakes.
- Both are lovely and beautiful.
- Both are unique, and each one is different.
- Both are passing; snowflakes melt and children grow up.