by Elton Gahr

Created on: June 17, 2009

If brevity is the soul of whit then the metaphor is the best tool for that brevity. A metaphor and the slimily allows more information to be conveyed in few words than any other literary device. It does this by drawing a direct connection between two objects often telling complex and detailed amounts of information in only a few words.

The first thing worth understanding is the difference between similes and metaphors. The main difference in definition is that a similes will use the word like. Seth is agile as a cat is a slimily while saying Seth is a turtle is a metaphor. There are important reasons for using one over the other. The most obvious is that the reader can be confused by a metaphor. It is entirely possible that I mean that Seth is a turtle literally without any context. But in return the smiley is less powerful than the metaphor. By telling the reader that you are making a connection you are making.

When using metaphor it is important to be aware of how easy it is to fall into clich when using metaphors. We have used so many of them so often that they have largely lost their power and while using them can tell people what you mean quickly you're not really using a metaphor anymore when you say that Seth is a dog.

As you can see animals are the easiest form of metaphor. We are all aware of the characteristics of a wide variety of animals and the general metaphors that go with them, but they are by no means the only use of metaphors. We could for example say that Seth is an encyclopedia. This in many ways works better because we are less likely to confuse the reader(unless you have a habit of naming inanimate objects).

Metaphors need not describe people either. We can describe ideas or acts as metaphors also. A insult is a razorblade to the soul is a reasonable if melodramatic metaphor and uses neither people nor animals. You could of course use the statement an insult is like a razor blade to the soul and while it was weaker it might be mildly less melodramatic. This is one of the powers of understanding the differences between a simile and a metaphor.

No matter if you are writing fiction or nonfiction, short stories or long form the ability to put a large amount of information into a small amount of space is a valuable and important tool and one that shouldn't be overlooked or forgotten about, so use metaphors and similes and your writing will become a fine wine.

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