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A '''metaphor''' is a figure of speech in which two objects are compared, but without directly comparing them, for example: "My love is a red, red rose" would be a metaphor. However, "My love is ''like'' a red, red rose" is actually a [[simile]], because it uses the word "like" or "as". Metaphors do not use these words.
A '''metaphor''' is a figure of speech in which two objects are compared, but without directly comparing them, for example: "My love is a red, red rose" would be a metaphor. However, "My love is ''like'' a red, red rose" is actually a [[simile]], because it uses the word "like" or "as". Metaphors do not use these words.
Famous users of metaphors include [[Shakespeare]] and [[Milton]].
The essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another.
Metaphor is a fundamental mechanism of mind, one that allows us to use what we know about our physical and social experience to provide understanding of countless other subjects. Because such metaphors structure our most basic understandings of our experience, they are "metaphors we live by"-metaphors that can shape our perceptions and actions without our ever noticing them
Famous users of metaphors include [[Shakespeare]] and [[Milton]]. [[Henry David Thoreau]] wrote, "We are all sculptors and painters, and our material is our own flesh and bones." [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]] recommended "Hitch your wagon to a star."
==Further reading==
* Grothe, Mardy. ''I Never Metaphor I Didn't Like: A Comprehensive Compilation of History's Greatest Analogies, Metaphors, and Similes'' (2008) [http://www.amazon.com/Never-Metaphor-Didnt-Like-Comprehensive/dp/0061358134/ref=pd_cp_b_3 excerpt and text search] compiles 2000 analogies, metaphors, and similes.
* Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson. ''Metaphors We Live By'' (2003) 256pp [http://www.amazon.com/Metaphors-We-Live-George-Lakoff/dp/0226468011/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256628635&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]
==External link==
* [http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Metaphor "Metaphor"] in Citizendium
[[Category:Literary Devices]]
[[Category:Literary Devices]]