Metaphor and Simile: How Comparisons Create New Meaning

Figurative Language as a Tool for Thinking

Figurative language is not “extra decoration.” It is a way of making meaning by thinking through comparison. A comparison can compress an argument (“this is like that”), reveal an attitude (admiration, fear, irony), and guide what readers notice. In poetry, comparisons often do two things at once: they describe and they interpret.

Core Terms: Simile, Metaphor, Personification, Symbol

Simile compares using an explicit signal such as like or as.

• Form: A is like B; A is as B as C.
• Effect: The poem invites you to map selected qualities from B onto A.

Metaphor compares by stating or implying identity: A is B (even though literally it is not).

• Form: A is B; A becomes B; B stands in for A.
• Effect: Stronger than simile because it asks you to accept the comparison as a temporary “truth” and explore its consequences.

Personification gives human actions, feelings, or intentions to something nonhuman (an object, animal, idea, weather).

• Form: An abstract or nonhuman thing “speaks,” “decides,” “refuses,” “remembers,” etc.
• Effect: Makes an idea thinkable in human terms (motive, agency, relationship).

Symbol is an image, object, or action that carries meaning beyond itself, often through repeated use or strong contextual emphasis.

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• Form: A concrete thing (a bird, a road, a crown) accrues significance.
• Effect: The symbol’s meaning is not a single “translation,” but a range constrained by the text.

Tenor and Vehicle: What’s Described vs. What It’s Compared To

A practical way to analyze comparisons is to separate:

• Tenor: the thing being described (the topic).
• Vehicle: the thing used for comparison (the image or frame).

Example (simile): “My love is like a red, red rose.”

• Tenor: “my love” (the speaker’s love).
• Vehicle: “a red, red rose.”

Example (metaphor): “Hope is the thing with feathers—” (Emily Dickinson).

• Tenor: hope.
• Vehicle: a feathered creature (bird-like).

Why this matters: once you name tenor and vehicle, you can ask which qualities of the vehicle the poem activates, and which it does not.

How Metaphor Creates Meaning: Implications and Limits

A metaphor is a meaning-machine: it generates implications (what the comparison suggests) and limits (what the comparison leaves out or distorts). Good reading balances both.

Step-by-step: Testing a Metaphor

1. Identify the tenor and vehicle.
2. List activated features. Which qualities of the vehicle are supported by specific words in the poem?
3. Generate implications. What does the metaphor encourage you to believe, feel, or notice about the tenor?
4. Check limits. What would be true if the metaphor were literal that the poem does not support? What does the metaphor hide?
5. Choose the best-supported reading. Prefer interpretations anchored in the poem’s diction and details.

Example 1 (Metaphor): Dickinson’s “Hope is the thing with feathers—”

Public-domain excerpt (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—

Tenor: hope. Vehicle: a bird (or bird-like creature).

Activated features (supported by the text):

• “with feathers” points to a bird, not just “lightness” in general.
• “perches” suggests steadiness and presence (it stays).
• “in the soul” locates hope internally, not in the outside world.
• “sings the tune without the words” suggests comfort that is felt rather than logically explained.
• “never stops—at all—” implies persistence.

Implications (multiple plausible readings):

• Hope as inner resilience: The “perching” and “never stops” support the idea that hope continues even when circumstances do not.
• Hope as nonverbal knowledge: “without the words” can imply hope is not an argument; it is a felt orientation, like music.
• Hope as something separate from the self: The bird “perches” in the soul like a guest; this can suggest hope is not identical with willpower, but something that visits or inhabits.

Limits (what the metaphor hides):

• A bird is often free and mobile, but the poem emphasizes perching and staying; the metaphor does not focus on hope’s changeability.
• A bird can be fragile; the poem does not foreground fragility here, instead insisting on endurance (“never stops”).

Grounding check: If you claim “hope is fragile,” you would need textual support (words like “trembles,” “breaks,” “wounded”). This excerpt instead supports persistence.

Example 2 (Simile): Shakespeare’s “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”

Public-domain excerpt (William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18):

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?  Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Tenor: “thee” (the beloved). Vehicle: “a summer’s day.”

What the simile highlights:

• “lovely” suggests beauty/pleasure.
• “temperate” suggests mildness, balance, steadiness (not extreme heat or storms).

What it hides (limits):

• A summer’s day is brief; the poem’s later argument (in the full sonnet) resists that brevity. Even in these two lines, the comparison already sets up tension: summer is beautiful but unstable.

Two plausible readings supported by these words:

• Compliment through refinement: The beloved is not only beautiful but also “temperate,” implying a balanced character or presence.
• Implicit critique of summer: By choosing “temperate,” the speaker hints that summer can be not temperate—too hot, too changeable—so the beloved surpasses nature’s best day.

Personification and Symbol in the Same Toolkit

Personification and symbol often work alongside metaphor and simile. They also depend on tenor/vehicle thinking: the poem borrows human traits (vehicle) to think about a nonhuman thing (tenor), or it lets an object carry a widening set of meanings.

Personification: What Human Action Is Being Borrowed?

When you see a nonhuman thing doing something human, ask:

• What action is personified? (speaking, refusing, remembering, judging)
• What attitude does that action imply? (comforting, threatening, indifferent)
• What does personification make easier to think about? (time as a thief; death as a caller; dawn as a visitor)

Mini-check: personification is not just “giving life.” It is giving agency and often motive. That motive must be supported by the verbs and tone the poem uses.

Symbol: How Does an Object Accrue Meaning?

A symbol is rarely a one-word code. Instead, it gathers meaning through:

• Placement: Is it emphasized at beginnings/endings?
• Repetition: Does it recur with variations?
• Association: What emotions, actions, or contrasts surround it?
• Pressure: Does the poem treat it as more than ordinary (through attention, mystery, or ritual)?

Practical rule: propose a symbolic meaning only if you can point to multiple textual cues that push the object beyond literal function.

Activity Set: From Literal Paraphrase to Best-Supported Interpretation

Activity 1: Literal Paraphrase (Defigurate the Line)

Goal: separate what the line literally says from what it suggests.

Use Dickinson’s line:

“Hope” is the thing with feathers—

1. Write a literal paraphrase that removes the metaphor. Example starter: “Hope is a feeling/quality inside a person that…”
2. List what you lose when you remove the metaphor. (sound, movement, warmth, persistence, etc.)

Activity 2: Implied Qualities List (Map Vehicle → Tenor)

Make a two-column table. In the left column, list qualities of the vehicle that the text activates. In the right column, translate each into a claim about the tenor.

Then add one row of your own using a specific word from the excerpt.

Activity 3: Choose the Best-Supported Interpretation (Evidence Ranking)

Write 2–3 possible interpretations of the metaphor, then rank them by textual support.

Template:

1. Interpretation A: ________. Evidence: quote 2–3 words/phrases.
2. Interpretation B: ________. Evidence: quote 2–3 words/phrases.
3. Interpretation C: ________. Evidence: quote 2–3 words/phrases.

Rule: if you cannot quote words that directly support an interpretation, lower its rank or discard it.

Mini-Lesson: Avoiding Over-Reading (How to Stay Grounded)

Because figurative language opens possibilities, it also tempts readers to claim meanings the text does not earn. Over-reading usually happens when an interpretation relies on private association rather than the poem’s words.

Three Grounding Tests

• Word Test: Which exact words in the line force your interpretation? If you removed those words, would your claim still stand?
• Feature Test: Are you using a feature of the vehicle that the poem actually activates? (A “bird” could imply many things; this poem activates “perches,” “sings,” “never stops.”)
• Limit Test: What would contradict your reading? Look for a word that narrows the meaning (e.g., “temperate” narrows “summer’s day” toward moderation).

Common Over-Reading Patterns (and Fixes)

• Pattern: Treating a metaphor as a universal symbol. Fix: Keep it local: interpret the metaphor in the context of the specific verbs and adjectives present.
• Pattern: Importing biography or outside facts to explain the comparison. Fix: Start with the line’s internal logic: tenor/vehicle, activated features, implications, limits.
• Pattern: Making the metaphor mean its opposite without textual cues. Fix: If you argue irony, point to signals (tone, contradiction, exaggerated phrasing, or destabilizing word choice).

Quick Practice: Ground or Reject a Claim

Claim: “In Dickinson’s line, the bird means hope is wild and uncontrollable.”

• Grounding check: Do we have words like “wild,” “fierce,” “storms,” “cannot be caged” in the excerpt?
• Text present: “perches,” “in the soul,” “never stops.” These suggest steadiness and persistence more than wildness.
• Decision: Reject or revise the claim to match the evidence (e.g., “hope is persistent and internally present”).