How to Write a Sentence Sentence

The metaphor is the sharp knife in your ribs, the speed bumps that slow down your writing, the monster lurking in the closet… Oh terrible! Metaphors are tricky – no doubt – but if you follow the instructions below, metaphors will add wonderful spice to the food you serve to your readers!

Table of Contents

Understanding metaphors

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/a/ae/Write-a-Metaphor-Step-1-Version-3.jpg/v4-728px-Write-a-Metaphor- Step-1-Version-3.jpg”,”bigUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/a/ae/Write-a-Metaphor-Step-1-Version-3.jpg/ v4-728px-Write-a-Metaphor-Step-1-Version-3.jpg”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:345,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:546,”licensing”:” <div class=”mw-parser-output”></div>”}

Understand what a metaphor is. The word “metaphor” comes from the Ancient Greek word metapherein which means “to bring,” or “to turn to.” ^{[1] X Sources Metaphors} “transfer” the meaning of one concept to another by naming or referring to one thing as another (while similes use the word “like” or “like” to compare two things). Consider some of the following famous examples:

The end of The Great Gatsby is a famous metaphor: “And as we continue to engage, the boats that swim against the current do not stop pushing it back into the past.”
The poet Khalil Gibran uses many metaphors in his poetry, such as: “All words are but crumbs falling from the table of thoughts.” ^{[2] X Research Source}
William Gibson’s postmodern sci-fi novel Neuromancer opens with the sentence: “The sky over the harbor is blue the color of the television screen has lost its signal.” ^{[3] X Research Sources}
The poetess Sylvia Plath’s poem “Cut” uses metaphors to express pain in a tone that evokes curiosity:
Ouch!
Not an onion, but my finger.
The upper part is almost completely detached
Only pieces left
skin….
Surely this is a celebration.
Out of the gap flows,
Millions of British soldiers in red uniforms. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/3/31/Write-a-Metaphor-Step-2-Version-3.jpg/v4-728px-Write-a-Metaphor- Step-2-Version-3.jpg”,”bigUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/3/31/Write-a-Metaphor-Step-2-Version-3.jpg/ v4-728px-Write-a-Metaphor-Step-2-Version-3.jpg”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:345,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:546,”licensing”:” <div class=”mw-parser-output”></div>”}

Identify rhetorical devices other than metaphors. There are many rhetorical devices that evoke associations between two things, including simile , metonymy , and simile. ^{[5] X Research Sources} Although similar in effect to metaphors, the rhetoric is slightly different.

The comparison consists of two parts: the thing described and the thing used to describe. In the simile “a cake baked over fire is as bitter as coal”, the cake is the object described, and the coal is the object used to describe. Unlike metaphors, similes use the word “like” or “like” to signal a comparison, so the effect of the simile is often considered to be a little less.
Metonymy replaces the name of one thing with the name of another closely related thing. For example, the word “throne” is often used to refer to the throne, and in the United States of America, the administration of the president and the cabinet is often referred to as the “White House”.
Modification is a way of saying that uses a part to refer to the whole, such as “scorer” to refer to a football player, or “punch” to refer to a boxer.

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/b/b6/Write-a-Metaphor-Step-3-Version-3.jpg/v4-728px-Write-a-Metaphor- Step-3-Version-3.jpg”,”bigUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/b/b6/Write-a-Metaphor-Step-3-Version-3.jpg/ v4-728px-Write-a-Metaphor-Step-3-Version-3.jpg”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:345,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:546,”licensing”:” <div class=”mw-parser-output”></div>”}

Learn metaphorical forms. Although the basic meaning of metaphor is relatively simple, the use of metaphor covers many levels, from very simple to extremely complex. Metaphors can simply compare two things, for example, “He looks cold on the outside, but he’s actually a piece of candy.” In literature, however, metaphors often span multiple sentences, even scenes. ^{[6] X Research Source}

Extended metaphors are used across multiple phrases or sentences. The cumulative nature of this metaphor has a powerful and vivid effect. The narrator of Dean Koontz’s novel Seize the Night uses an extended metaphor to describe his wild imagination:
“Bobby Halloway often says my imagination is three hundred rounds of the circus stage. And now I’m on the second hundred and ninety-nine, with dancing elephants, acrobatic clowns and tigers jumping through rings of fire. It’s about time to step back, leave the circus, go buy popcorn and a Coke, enjoy and relax.” ^{[7] X Research Sources}
Implicit metaphors are more subtle than simple metaphors. While a simple metaphor would describe someone as a “candy”, an implicit metaphor would further describe that person’s attributes: “At first I thought he was cold, but then I found out He’s so sweet inside.”
Dead metaphors are metaphors that become so common in everyday life that they lose their original effect because they are so familiar, such as “life flow”, “killing time”, “heartwarming”, ” Achilles’ heel”. Clichés (cliches) are also dead metaphors, phrases used to convey a deeper meaning. The phrase “Asin’s heel” above is also a cliches, indicating a person’s fatal weakness.

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/6/69/Write-a-Metaphor-Step-4-Version-3.jpg/v4-728px-Write-a-Metaphor- Step-4-Version-3.jpg”,”bigUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/6/69/Write-a-Metaphor-Step-4-Version-3.jpg/ v4-728px-Write-a-Metaphor-Step-4-Version-3.jpg”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:345,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:546,”licensing”:” <div class=”mw-parser-output”></div>”}

Recognize mixed metaphors. The “blend” metaphor combines the components of many metaphors into a single unit, often leading to awkward and absurd results. ^{[8] X Research Source} For example, “Wake up and smell the coffee on the wall,” is a mixture of two metaphors containing two attention-grabbing commands: “Wake up and smell the coffee” and “Read the news on the wall.” ^{[9] X Research Source}

Catachresis is the formal term for the mixed metaphor. Some writers use this form of metaphor deliberately to create ambiguity, convey a sense of absurdity or an indescribably intense emotion. The poem Somewhere I have never traveled, gladly beyond by EE Cummings uses catachresis to express his indescribable feeling of his love for his lover: “The sound of in your eyes is deeper than all roses — / no one in the world, not even a raindrop, has such pretty little hands…” ^{[10] X Research Source}
Catachresis can also be used to describe a psychological state of confusion or contradiction, like the famous monologue “To live or not to live” in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet : “To live, or not to live – that is the question. subject. To endure all the stones and arrows of cruel fate, or to take up arms and fight against the waves of the sea of suffering, to resist and destroy them, which is more noble?” ( Hamlet , Vietnamese translation by group Dao Anh Kha, Bui Y, Bui Phung Literature Publishing House, 2008) ^{[11] X Research Source} Of course in reality we cannot take up arms against the waves of the sea. , but the mixed metaphor helps convey Hamlet’s torn mood.

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/1/12/Write-a-Metaphor-Step-5-Version-3.jpg/v4-728px-Write-a-Metaphor- Step-5-Version-3.jpg”,”bigUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/1/12/Write-a-Metaphor-Step-5-Version-3.jpg/ v4-728px-Write-a-Metaphor-Step-5-Version-3.jpg”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:345,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:546,”licensing”:” <div class=”mw-parser-output”></div>”}

Understand the validity of metaphors. If used skillfully, metaphor can enrich language and enhance the meaning of what you want to say. It can convey many profound meanings in just a few words. It also encourages active reading and requires readers to interpret your words in their own words. ^{[12] X Research Source}

Metaphor can express emotions behind actions. For example, the phrase “Julio’s flaming eyes” would be more vivid and intense than “Julio’s angry gaze.”
Metaphors can convey large and complex ideas in just a few words. In a verse of Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman tells readers that they themselves are the best poems: “Your skin will be the best poem, and fluency is not just about language. words, but also in the silence of his eyes and lips.” ^{[13] X Research Source}
Metaphors can encourage creativity. It is easy to rely on everyday words to describe: the body is the body, and the ocean is the ocean. But metaphors will allow you to convey a simple idea creatively and expressively, something the Anglo-Saxons loved so much: the “body” becomes the “bone house” and the “ocean.” become the “whale road”. ^{[14] X Research Source}
You can show off your wits with metaphors. Or at least so Aristotle said (and who could object?) in his Poetry : “But the greatest thing by far is mastery of metaphor. It is something that cannot be learned from others; and also a sign of genius, for a good metaphor can convey an intuitive perception of similarity in difference.” ^{[15] X Research Source}

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/0/06/Write-a-Metaphor-Step-6-Version-3.jpg/v4-728px-Write-a-Metaphor- Step-6-Version-3.jpg”,”bigUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/0/06/Write-a-Metaphor-Step-6-Version-3.jpg/ v4-728px-Write-a-Metaphor-Step-6-Version-3.jpg”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:345,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:546,”licensing”:” <div class=”mw-parser-output”></div>”}

Read lots of examples. There’s no better way to understand metaphor usage and find the style that works best for you than by reading works with ingenious metaphors. It’s not uncommon for writers to use this rhetoric, so no matter what genre of literature you’re interested in, you’ll find great examples.

If you don’t mind reading difficult works, you should read John Donne, a 16th-century poet whose metaphors are very good that very few English writers have. Poems such as “The Flea” and his Hpy Sonnet use complex metaphors to describe experiences of love, religious faith, and death. ^{[16] X Research Source}
Lectures by Pastor Martin Luther King, Jr. also known for his metaphors and other rhetorical devices. His “I Have a Dream” speech uses metaphors with a wide meaning, such as describing black Americans living on “a lonely island of poverty in the middle of an ocean of destiny. material wealth.” ^{[17] X Research Source}

Write a metaphor

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/3/36/Write-a-Metaphor-Step-7-Version-3.jpg/v4-728px-Write-a-Metaphor- Step-7-Version-3.jpg”,”bigUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/3/36/Write-a-Metaphor-Step-7-Version-3.jpg/ v4-728px-Write-a-Metaphor-Step-7-Version-3.jpg”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:345,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:546,”licensing”:” <div class=”mw-parser-output”></div>”}

Use your imagination to think about what you want to describe. What properties does it have? How does it work? How does it make you feel? Does it have a taste? Jot down every description of the idea that pops into your head. Don’t get lost in the obvious details that everyone can see; Metaphors are thoughts that are out of bounds. ^{[18] X Research Sources}

For example, if you want to write a metaphor for “time,” try writing down as many attributes as you can: slow, fast, dark, long, heavy, flexible, progressive, changing, artificial, evolved, pause, stopwatch, race, glide.
Don’t edit too thoroughly in this step; Your aim is to come up with as much information as possible. You can always eliminate inappropriate ideas later.

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/0/07/Write-a-Metaphor-Step-8-Version-2.jpg/v4-728px-Write-a-Metaphor- Step-8-Version-2.jpg”,”bigUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/0/07/Write-a-Metaphor-Step-8-Version-2.jpg/ v4-728px-Write-a-Metaphor-Step-8-Version-2.jpg”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:345,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:546,”licensing”:” <div class=”mw-parser-output”></div>”}

Free association. Make a quick note of things that share those qualities, and this time too, don’t look for things that are too obvious; The more ambiguous the association, the more interesting the metaphor. If you’re writing a metaphor for a concept, train your mind to be more flexible by comparing it to an object. For example, if your subject is justice, ask yourself what animal it might be. ^{[19] X Research Source}

Avoid cliche metaphors. As Salvador Dalí once said, “The first to liken a girl’s cheeks to rose petals was indeed a poet; but the first person to repeat this is an idiot.” ^{[20] X Research Sources} The purpose of metaphors is to convey your ideas with impact and creativity in a concise way: A cup of caramelized chocolate ice cream and sea salt is stronger than a whole bowl of milk bland vanilla sour.
This is brain activity, so let your imagination run wild! With the “time” example, unlimited associations could be ideas like: rubber bands, immensity, 2001, abyss, enemies, ticking clocks, weight, waiting, loss , adapt, dilate, return.

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/9/9d/Write-a-Metaphor-Step-9-Version-2.jpg/v4-728px-Write-a-Metaphor- Step-9-Version-2.jpg”,”bigUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/9/9d/Write-a-Metaphor-Step-9-Version-2.jpg/ v4-728px-Write-a-Metaphor-Step-9-Version-2.jpg”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:345,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:546,”licensing”:” <div class=”mw-parser-output”></div>”}

Decide what state of mind you want to bring. Do you want to create or maintain a particular tone? Does your metaphor need to fit into the larger context? Use this to cross off inappropriate associations from the list.

In the “time” example, let’s say you want to create a “supernatural/sacred” feel, get rid of ideas that don’t fit that spirit like: enemies, 2001, weights, and clocks ticks, because these words are quite “mundane”.
Try to remember the nuances of your chosen theme. For example, if you wanted to compare the concept of justice to an animal, a “leopard stalking” would convey a very different meaning of “justice” than “a languid elephant”. However, both of the above metaphors are still more appropriate than the “newborn kitten”.

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/6/66/Write-a-Metaphor-Step-10-Version-2.jpg/v4-728px-Write-a-Metaphor- Step-10-Version-2.jpg”,”bigUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/6/66/Write-a-Metaphor-Step-10-Version-2.jpg/ v4-728px-Write-a-Metaphor-Step-10-Version-2.jpg”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:345,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:546,”licensing”:” <div class=”mw-parser-output”></div>”}

Develop ideas. Write a few sentences, paragraphs, or pages of paper comparing your original topic with the associations you’ve come up with. At this point you don’t need to bother writing metaphors; Focus on ideas to see where they take you.

With the “time” example, this step might make a sentence like this: “Time is an elastic rubber band, it shoots me into the unknown and brings me back to the center.” This sentence takes an idea from Step 2 and begins to ascribe to it specific actions and properties – the starting point of the metaphor.

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/8/8f/Write-a-Metaphor-Step-11-Version-2.jpg/v4-728px-Write-a-Metaphor- Step-11-Version-2.jpg”,”bigUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/8/8f/Write-a-Metaphor-Step-11-Version-2.jpg/ v4-728px-Write-a-Metaphor-Step-11-Version-2.jpg”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:345,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:546,”licensing”:” <div class=”mw-parser-output”></div>”}

Read out loud. Metaphors draw attention to the workings of language, so it’s important that the sound you read out loud matches the content. A metaphor describing softness should not have many strong consonants; Sentences expressing depth should contain lower vowels ( ohh and umm ); and redundancy descriptions can use alliterations (repetitive sounds); et cetera.

In the example sentence created in Step 4, the basic idea is there, but the wording behind it is not strong enough. For example, there is very little alliteration in this sentence, a measure that can be very useful if you want to convey a sense of repetition. The idea of “rubber rope” also conjures up an image of a person or thing shooting a rubber band, and this reduces the focus on Time which is the subject of the action.

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/7/72/Write-a-Metaphor-Step-12-Version-2.jpg/v4-728px-Write-a-Metaphor- Step-12-Version-2.jpg”,”bigUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images/thumb/7/72/Write-a-Metaphor-Step-12-Version-2.jpg/ v4-728px-Write-a-Metaphor-Step-12-Version-2.jpg”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:345,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:546,”licensing”:” <div class=”mw-parser-output”></div>”}

Turn your comparison idea into a metaphor. Write a metaphor that compares the original topic with one of the things or concepts you have come up with. Is it reasonable? Is it unique? Does it match the feeling? Is there another sentence that sounds better? Don’t immediately accept the first idea that sounds good; Be prepared to discard an idea if a better one pops into your head.

For example, if you add allusions and actions to Time , you get a sentence like this: “Time is a bullet train; it doesn’t stop waiting for anyone.” The focus is now entirely on the time, and the repeated t consonant enhances the sense of repetition that the metaphor is aiming for.

Advice

Learning about other rhetorical devices can help you better understand associations between seemingly unrelated things.
- Personification : Assigning an object (usually an inanimate object) human attributes. This is a way to give depth to images depicted with words that are usually only used to describe people. “Intrepid adventurers enter the gaping mouth of the mountain.” As you may have noticed, human attributes are not necessarily exclusive to humans, though often they are: “The old familiar chair welcomes her back as if she’d never left. this place. “
- Analogy : Comparison between two pairs of things, a:b::c:d (e.g. hot to cold like fire to ice). The analogy can be used to express irony, such as the proverb “Honesty can drive a buffalo/Love is like a daughter-in-law.” Less directly, Spenser’s verse is a subtle sublimation “I turn fire to an icy lover…” (Translated by Hoang Nguyen Chuong).
- Allegory : an extended story in which people, things, or ideas represent another, giving the story two meanings, a literal and a figurative meaning. In figurative language, almost every character or thing has a meaning. You can read Animal Farm , a form of metaphor for the Soviet Union, where the herds rebelled against the ranchers and established their own egalitarian society, but and gradually they have created a draconian hierarchy from which they must fight to escape.
- Allegory : A story that conveys the narrator’s point or lesson. An example is the fable of Eops (the story, for example, of a mighty lion that spares the life of a small rat, and then that the rat saves the lion from a human snare – implying that even The weak also have their strengths).
Writing is a skill. The more you practice, the better you will write.
Remember that thing called “grammar”? Turns out it has a purpose. You need to make sure that your writing is grammatically correct so that the reader understands what you want to say.
No matter how hard you try, many of the metaphors you write down may not work. But okay. You just throw it away and move on to something else. Maybe you’ll be inspired by the muse and write down better ideas somewhere.
A good way to improve writing skills using metaphor is to start writing poetry. You can even post your poem on the blog!

Steps

Understanding metaphors

Write a metaphor

Advice

Related Posts