METAPHORS IN THE MAKING

To recap from an earlier post, entitled 'Metaphors be with You', a metaphor is when you say that something is something else, using figurative language to compare and contrast different objects or ideas. They are formed when words are put together to create pictures in your minds.

Poets use metaphor-speak for an idea as if it were another idea.

In “The Highwayman” Alfred Noyes says, “The wind was a torrent of darkness and the Moon was a ghostly galleon.”

Metaphors are FUN to use! AND they allow your brain to BULLDOZE THROUGH BARRIERS!

Let's do a simple exercise.

1. Select an object or idea as the subject of your thoughts. It is a good idea for you to make a simple drawing of your theme.

For example, suppose you wish to describe storytelling.

2. Identify what it is you want to communicate about storytelling. You may wish to express how enchanting it is to tell and listen to, stories.

3. Now think of another object or idea that strongly implies what and how you wish to express your thoughts. Perhaps you like the idea of “spaceship” to communicate the way stories transport you to other worlds.

4. Finally, craft a sentence in which you link the idea of ‘spaceships’ to ‘storytelling’. For example, you could write or say, “Storytelling is a spaceship that takes me on voyages to other worlds.”

Congratulations! You have just used ‘spaceship’ as a metaphor.

Using metaphors when you write and speak will allow you to communicate more effectively and in a more interesting way. It allows your imagination to break freeeeeee!

Now try your hand at crafting metaphors from the three images appended in this post, using the four-step process described above. Make your associations and metaphor away.

Suggestions: ‘Elephant’ could remind you of a good memory; ‘Four Aces’ could remind you of a winning hand; ‘An Egg’ could remind you of a new idea, and so on.

This is a simple way to help you think clearly, and to come up with creative ideas in challenging circumstances.

[Excerpted from the 'Thinkerbelles' edition of The InGenius Series of bookazines by Dilip Mukerjea. All the images in this post are the intellectual property of Dilip Mukerjea. For annual subscriptions to the bookazines, please proceed to this link under 'Learning Miracles'. ]