Friday, November 13th, 2020.
Blogger #8 - Chase Dalcortivo - Pd. 1 - A - Freshmen 2021
Aim: How are metaphors used by writers to send meaning to readers?
Do Now: Complete the following: Love is a _______________________.
We started off the day talking love and we had to describe what love meant to us. Personally I decided to fill in the blank with connection making the sentence “Love is a connection.” Other common answers included universal,
Metaphor: The distinct comparison where one thing or idea substitutes for another.
It’s a figure of speech that develops a comparison which is different from a simile.
We then segued into notes on what a metaphor is. We learned that metaphors are comparisons of something to something that are completely different. It is used in literature inorder to develop said comparisons in order to excel the experience of the reader.
It is very important to note that metaphors are different from similes that use like or as. A simile while similar is different based on the vocabulary used to make the comparison.
Note: It often uses the form of the verb, “To Be.” (is, am, are, was, were, will be, being, been, could, should, would, has, have, having, had, may, might, must)
We then learned that metaphors also commonly use forms of to be in order to compare two separate things. Again important to keep in mind that like or as are not on this list because such words would make our comparison a simile. We also are told to keep in mind that metaphors are most of the time implicit / hidden and not explicit.
Metaphors being implicit / hidden make it even more important to be an active reader as an inactive reader could miss metaphors that are in plain sight. We need to make sure that throughout our reading we are seeing all of the authors figurative language specifically metaphors by looking for them through our key words (is, am, are, was, were, will be, being, been, could, should, would, has, have, having, had, may, might, must).
This image also complimented our understanding to what a metaphor entails. A metaphor could be as short as 3 sentences but it could convey a multitude of things. For example “Time, you thief,” could mean that time is stealing away all of the memories we could make as we never have enough. All of this information could be gauged off of three words which is why writers use metaphors to get more out of their words and send a message that has an impact to their reader.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4gMKZKU3lE&ab_channel=TheRedRoomCompany
As a class we watch a video on metaphor which gives us an example of metaphor in a poem, gives us a definition, and then gives us many more examples. This video elevates my understanding of metaphor as it shows us metaphor in use in a poem. It gives me a better understanding of the aim question by showing us how different metaphors could have such a big meaning for a reader by giving each line many things to pick apart and interpret.
An extended metaphor is developed over several lines or throughout a poem. If it helps to have an example, consider Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”, Langston Hughes’ “Mother to Son”,
As a class we segue into the next topic of extended metaphors. Extended metaphors are very similar to metaphors in that they both will include our key words but an extended metaphor may be seen over many lines.
Mrs. Peterson then gives us an example of an extended metaphor in the form of an hourglass. The passage goes on to explain how life is like an hourglass and goes on to explain why. The author states how you start life and you have all of your sand on one side but then it starts tipping over. It continues to drip to the other side and we will never know when our sand (time in life) is going to run out.
This is a perfect example of an extended metaphor as we can see throughout the whole passage it consistently refers back to our key words in this case an compaing life and an hourglass. The hourglass perfectly represents our time in life and how we could never know when it's going to run out. We have to live out the rest of our life wondering when it will run out but the only guarantee is it will run out / we will die. While grim when given thought it is a great way to convey to us how when investigated extended metaphors could have so much expression within just a few lines.
Going back to the warm up we started the day by asking what is love and after seeing the notes I realize that this metaphor was our first example into a whole world of figurative language. We start out with that simple metaphor and throughout the course of the day are shown an hourglass which represents our entire lives time. Authors can make great use of these metaphors by conveying all of this information within such a small amount of space. Specifically authors that write poems use such metaphors all of the time in order to show how much of an impact their words can have all based on metaphors.
Reflection:
I have learned what to look for when it comes to metaphors including our key words and how they can be used within a text. I also learned that we must be sure that we are not writing a simile when trying to write a metaphor. Looking back on the day I believe that I also learned that metaphors and extended metaphors if used right could be a key asset to bring our poems to the next level.
Specifically throughout the day we were given countless examples of professional level writing and how they too use this knowledge to spice up their poems. They incorporate extended metaphors in their writing in order to express themes / messages to us in a more intricate way. They make their reading fun and exciting by allowing us to go on a journey figuring out what each little detail means.
I have learned that this writing using extended metaphors elevates my writing and I will use it in future writing. Not only will I use these skills in my own texts I will make sure that while I am reading in the future I am constantly looking for metaphors that will give me deeper insight to the text. Not everything is as it seems and metaphors seem to reinforce that idea which is why I will make sure to use my knowledge of them to understand more in the future.
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