07-08-2015, 04:07 AM
Hello queen c--
Accuracy remains important, even (maybe especially) with metaphors. I will try to brief, as the subject of metaphors is very deep.
Tenor, vehicle, metonymy, synecdoche, conceit: what do these words mean in regard to metaphor?
Inaccurate metaphor: "A feather of smoke flapped its wings." The problem: though wings have feathers, feathers don't have wings. A reader instantly (if subconsciously) knows something ain't right.
A metaphor that works ( by Trumbull Stickney,1824-1904):
"The green and climbing eyesight of a cat
Crawled near my mind's poor birds"
Works because cats can have green eyes, and one can visualize those eyes tracking a bird. It makes its own weird sense because of its accuracy.
Good luck,
... Mark
Accuracy remains important, even (maybe especially) with metaphors. I will try to brief, as the subject of metaphors is very deep.
Tenor, vehicle, metonymy, synecdoche, conceit: what do these words mean in regard to metaphor?
Inaccurate metaphor: "A feather of smoke flapped its wings." The problem: though wings have feathers, feathers don't have wings. A reader instantly (if subconsciously) knows something ain't right.
A metaphor that works ( by Trumbull Stickney,1824-1904):
"The green and climbing eyesight of a cat
Crawled near my mind's poor birds"
Works because cats can have green eyes, and one can visualize those eyes tracking a bird. It makes its own weird sense because of its accuracy.
Good luck,
... Mark