*also called conceit

Extended and imaginative metaphors

As with similes, skilled speakers and writers can produce long and interesting metaphors.

Examples

  1. Extended metaphors
Truth is a hurricane, and no matter how strong we build our shelters it shall always break them down and leave us exposed.‘All the world’s a stage
And men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts
His acts being seven ages’

– from As You Like It by William Shakespeare
I graduated from the University of Life, and have a degree from The School of Hard Knocks. My mentor was Professor Knuckle Sandwich, and my textbook ‘How to Take a Beating’ by I.L.Breakyourface.

2. Imaginative metaphors

America is an enormous frosted cupcake in the middle of millions of starving people

– George Jean Nathan		Happiness is a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp; but if you sit down quietly, may alight upon you

– Nathaniel Hawthorne
The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page

– St. Augustine		Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor

– Sholom Aleic Hem
Medicine is my lawful wife and literature my mistress; when I tire of one I spend the night with the other

– Anton Chekhov		Life is a journey. But don’t worry, you’ll get a parking spot at the end

– Isaac Asimov

Exercises

Try to think of extended or imaginative metaphors for:
a) marriage
b) homework
c) being born
d) work