Aim: How are metaphors used by writers to send meaning to readers?
Do Now/Class Discussion: First, we started off the lesson with filling in the sentence “love is ____.” Personally, I put love and pain to fill in the blank. Natalie said, “love is a four letter word.” Oscar said, “Love is caring for others.” Bernice said, “Love is blind.” Ayad said, “Love is an illusion.” Out of all of these responses, all of them could be considered metaphors.
What is a metaphor?: After the do now, we reviewed what a metaphor is. A metaphor is a distinct comparison where one thing or idea substitutes another. It is a figure of speech that develops a comparison differently than a simile. It often uses the form of the verb “To Be” which it appears in ways like: is, am, are, was, were, will be, being, been, could, should, would, has, have, having, had, may, might or must. Metaphors are compared as the exact same thing instead of being similar to the thing/idea it is being compared against unlike a simile. We also watched a video on metaphors. Red Room Poetry Object Poetic Device #3: Metaphor [2:14]
What is an extended metaphor?: Afterwards, we also talked about how to tell the difference between implicit and explicit. Ms. Peterson then proceeded to tell us that an easy way to tell the difference and recognise them easily is that an explicit metaphor starts with exp just like explained while implicit starts with imp just like implied. We then said that an extended metaphor is a metaphor developed over several lines or a poem.
Class Discussion: Further on, we read and annotated the passage “Poetry for Everyday Life”, to look for anything that stood out to us. I specifically wrote a comment that “James Geary reports on linguistic research suggesting that people use a metaphor every 10 to 25 words.” I also wrote a comment on “When talking about argument, we use war metaphors. When talking about time, we often use money metaphors. But when talking about money, we rely on liquid metaphors.” It stood out to me because it surprised me on how often we used metaphors without realizing that we do. Those particular lines also surprised other classmates when we shared what we found interesting.
The Opinion Pages | OP-ED COLUMNIST--Cont’d
“Poetry for Everyday Life”
APRIL 11, 2011
By David Brooks This is an informative article given to us in class on how common metaphors are in human language, their associations with certain concepts, and how we humans use them.
Here’s a clunky but unremarkable sentence that appeared in the British press before the last national election: “Britain’s recovery from the worst recession in decades is gaining traction, but confused economic data and the high risk of hung Parliament could yet snuff out its momentum.”
The sentence is only worth quoting because in 28 words it contains four metaphors. Economies don’t really gain traction, like a tractor. Momentum doesn’t literally get snuffed out, like a cigarette. We just use those metaphors, without even thinking about it, as a way to capture what is going on.
In his fine new book, “I Is an Other,” James Geary reports on linguistic research suggesting that people use a metaphor every 10 to 25 words. Metaphors are not rhetorical frills at the edge of how we think, Geary writes. They are at the very heart of it.
George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, two of the leading researchers in this field, have pointed out that we often use food metaphors to describe the world of ideas. We devour a book, try to digest raw facts and attempt to regurgitate other people’s ideas, even though they might be half-baked.
When talking about relationships, we often use health metaphors. A friend might be involved in a sick relationship. Another might have a healthy marriage.
When talking about argument, we use war metaphors. When talking about time, we often use money metaphors. But when talking about money, we rely on liquid metaphors[We associate two things that on their own would have nothing to do with one another.]. We dip into savings, sponge off friends or skim funds off the top. Even the job title stockbroker derives from the French word “brocheur”, the tavern worker who tapped the kegs of beer to get the liquidity flowing.
The psychologist Michael Morris points out that when the stock market is going up, we tend to use agent metaphors, implying the market is a living thing with clear intentions[Things or ideas that frequently change are associated with living things.]. We say the market climbs or soars or fights its way upward. When the market goes down, on the other hand, we use object metaphors, implying it is inanimate. The market falls, plummets or slides.
Most of us, when asked to stop and think about it, are by now aware of the pervasiveness of metaphorical thinking. But in the normal rush of events, we often see straight through metaphors, unaware of how they refract perceptions. So it’s probably important to pause once a month or so to pierce the illusion that we see the world directly. It’s good to pause to appreciate how flexible and tenuous[very weak or slight.] our grip on reality actually is.
Metaphors help compensate for our natural weaknesses. Most of us are not very good at thinking about abstractions or spiritual states, so we rely on concrete or spatial metaphors to (imperfectly) do the job. A lifetime is pictured as a journey across a landscape. A person who is sad is down in the dumps, while a happy fellow is riding high.
Most of us are not good at understanding new things, so we grasp them imperfectly by relating them metaphorically to things that already exist. That’s a “desktop” on your computer screen…
Most important, being aware of metaphors reminds you of the central role that poetic skills play in our thought. If much of our thinking is shaped and driven by metaphor, then the skilled thinker will be able to recognize patterns, blend patterns, apprehend the relationships and pursue unexpected likenesses.
Even the hardest of the sciences depend on a foundation of metaphors. To be aware of metaphors is to be humbled by the complexity of the world, to realize that deep in the undercurrents of thought there are thousands of lenses popping up between us and the world, and that we’re surrounded at all times by what Steven Pinker of Harvard once called “pedestrian poetry.”
Class Discussion Continued: Afterwards, we discussed the poem “Hope is the Thing with Feathers” by Emily Dickinson.
“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 chilliest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.”
We discussed the question: “How does the author utilize the extended metaphor to express a theme or message to the reader? The answers that we came up with was that hope was implied to be a bird even though it never directly stated it in the poem, she compares the traits of hope to the traits of birds multiple times which is how she utilizes the extended metaphor.
Group Work: Last but not least, we read and annotated the poems, ““Mother to Son” By Langston Hughes” and “The Rose That Grew from Concrete” By Tupac Shakur
“Mother to Son” By Langston Hughes
Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
5 And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor—
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been aclimbin' on,
10 And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So, boy, don't you turn back.
15 Don't you set down on the steps.
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now—
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin',
20 And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
“The Rose That Grew from Concrete” By Tupac Shakur
[1] Did you hear about the rose that grew
from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature's law is wrong it
learned to walk without having feet.
[5] Funny it seems, but by keeping its
Dreams,
it learned to breathe fresh air.
Long live the rose that grew from concrete
when no one else ever cared.
In our groups, we discussed the questions:
What extended metaphor is used in the poem?
What is Hughes expressing through the use of this metaphor? (think about what the “crystal stair” and the “tacks”/”splinters” might represent.)
Look specifically at the final stanza: what is the mother’s message to her son?
We also discussed:
How does this poem utilize an extended metaphor?
What does the rose represent? What about the concrete?
At the end, as a class we came up with the following answers to the questions:
What extended metaphor is used in the poem?
What is Hughes expressing through the use of this metaphor? (think about what the “crystal stair” and the “tacks”/”splinters” might represent.)
Hughes is expressing and referring to the “crystal stair” and the “tacks/splinters” as to life. It is expressing that life is a journey filled with ups and downs. There is not just one road ahead and every road consists of its own dangers. Life isn’t smooth but, you have to move forward.
Look specifically at the final stanza: what is the mother’s message to her son?
The mother’s message to the son is that life isn’t smooth and you have to persevere in the toughest situations and get through them.
How does this poem utilize an extended metaphor?
The poem utilizes an extended metaphor by saying that nature’s law isn’t always right. There can be situations where it doesn’t go like it’s supposed to and there can be situations that can overcome what it is supposed to become like the rose which wasn’t supposed to live and grow up. This poem utilizes an extended metaphor by expressing how by pushing through its boundaries a rose may be able to grow in unusual places. By pushing through boundaries, you can become something greater than expected.
What does the rose represent? What about the concrete?
The rose represents life while the concrete represents the path in life which someone is supposed to follow. It also represents someone who could have been brought up in a difficult environment and had to work hard to pave their way through life.
Reflection: I learned how to analyze poems that contain extended metaphors; how to better understand the ideas/themes in the use of the metaphors and as well as how to identify metaphors and use them. I also learned how to see whether it is an implicit or an explicit metaphor. I also became more aware of the fact that I use an excessive amount of metaphors everyday when talking to other people without realizing it. These were important to learn because it can help aid us in expressing ourselves and analyzing other people’s emotions and examples that they have written in their poems/writings. It helps us convey messages through different types of metaphors/figurative languages in general to express ourselves while speaking to others. I can apply the knowledge when analyzing poems on tests like the PSAT/SAT or even future poems that we need to analyze. I can apply this knowledge to the soon due anthology project as well as other courses that relate to figurative language or poems.
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