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why do people use metaphors?

Akoto

Akoto

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Jan 9, 2005
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Guelph, Ontario, Canada
i can never seem to understand why people use metaphors so much. i usualy dont understand them, and if poetry is supposed to be a way of portraying a message, why do you have to go into these rediculous metaphors that require hours to decypher?

the only thing i can come up with is that people use symbolism to represent things in every day life and they somehow call on deeper feelings...or something along thoes lines
 
^^^ semantics.

anyway, the use of metaphor is, imo (and the opinions of millions of other writers over the years), a brilliant device because it does two things: firstly, it leaves the writing open to interpretation. through the use of metaphor, one sentence can come to mean many thousands of different things to different people - even to the same person. rather than writing 'i was very tired,' one might write (crappy metaphor warning!) 'i tapered, slowing as the final raindrops as winter do' or something. hopefully something a little better - but i'm sure you get the idea.

secondly, metaphors are also used to give layers and depth to the one specific meaning that the author may (or may not) intend - using the metaphor as a device to actually imbue the writing with a more timeless quality, despite its potential reference to a specific moment or event.

all imnsho of course :D
 
if the usage of the metaphor is up for interpretation and there is no real answer to it that the author may not have intended, then he/she isnt portraying a very good message.

..assuming something like a poem is supposed to portray a message rather then overly complex string of metaphors

(sry if it sounds like im bashing art, but i just dont get it)
 
my opinion:

its art. metaphors are just another way to stroke the brush. things hold more beauty in disguise. its kind of like those photos where its hard to tell what exactly it is, but it has a certain style. like, you may say... "i dont know what the fuck that is, but it looks cool," well, you may not know EXACTLY what is being said, but you recognize its beauty.
 
Akoto said:
if the usage of the metaphor is up for interpretation and there is no real answer to it that the author may not have intended, then he/she isnt portraying a very good message.

..assuming something like a poem is supposed to portray a message rather then overly complex string of metaphors

(sry if it sounds like im bashing art, but i just dont get it)
Click to expand...

That's the thing though, you're going under the assumption that there's one particular message which the writer is trying to put across. Poetry isn't an essay...it's not meant to be a straightforward delivery of the facts. The whole point of it is that it's meant to be stimulating in an artistic sense...and I think it's great that it's open to interpretation because different people can relate to it in different ways.

If I write "My partner locked me out of the house and this made me upset because I wanted to be inside the house", it not only has all the aesthetic appeal of watching paint dry, but people are gonna read it and be all like, "oh well my partner never locked me out of my house, so I can't relate to that at all."

If I write "Love behind closed doors, my heart fell victim to that exile again"...well, nobody knows what the fuck I'm talking about most likely, but it invokes an emotional response. And speaking for myself, I'd much rather invoke an emotional response that may or may not have anything to do with the catalyst for my writing rather than just have someone say "oh yeah, that happened to me once!"

Umm. Possibly terrible explanation above, but I think the point is made.. :)
 
because if we didnt we couldnt use cool song lyrics like "You radiate cold shards of broken glass."

Now lets take a vote, which is better "You radiate cold shards of broken glass," or "You are emotionless and ansensual."
 
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