 Poetry: July 30, 2014 Issue [#6453] |
  Poetry
This week: The Importance of Metaphors Edited by: Crys-not really here  
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| Hello! My name is Crys-not really here . One of my favorite things to write is poetry, which is why I'm excited to once again be guest editor of the Poetry Newsletter. |
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The Importance of Metaphor
What is metaphor?
Simply put, metaphor is comparing two things without using the words "like" or "as."
For example: "Love is a battlefield" is a metaphor that you've probably heard many times.
But metaphor gets deeper than that. There are many different kinds of metaphor, all of which can be used to strengthen a poem. Here are just a couple examples.
 Allegory or extended metaphor, takes a metaphor and stretches it out through the entire length of a poem or prose. Animal Farm by George Orwell contains an example of an allegory. The pigs represent political figures of the Russian Revolution.
Catachresis is a type of mixed metaphor where a word is used with a different meaning than normally intended. For example, most of us would say "mow the grass," but we could chose to say "shave the grass" instead.
Why is metaphor important in poetry?
You can certainly write a poem without a metaphor, but in my opinion poems with strong metaphors are always more powerful. Metaphors help the reader see and relate to emotions. For example, it's one thing to say "I'm sad because you left me," but quite another to say "My love for you is a volcano that has boiled over and scorched the earth around me." 
In his Poetics, Aristotle asserts that the difference between histories and poems is that histories tell events, whereas poems explain emotions. Certainly, we can all think of poems that tell stories, but I would argue that those stories are still filtered through one speaker's emotional state of mind. It is possible to write a historical account of an event without including an emotional connection. It is not possible to write a poem about that same event without describing what the people see, feel, and think. That's the definition of poetry. Metaphors help us explain those emotions in ways that the reader can see and connect with.
Remember that metaphor is just one of the many tools that poets can work with. Similes, alliteration, rhyme schemes and rhythm are some of the others. Even in free verse poetry, a poet needs to use some poetic devices. I think it's okay to not always use metaphor, but if you're not using any poetic devices at all Aristotle (and I!) would argue that you're writing prose, not poetry.
Check out some of my Editor's Picks below. I hope you'll review them with an eye for metaphor!
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Thank you to everyone who wrote in about my last poetry newsletter on the Diamante!
I'm pretty sure the last line was an antonym to the subject. At least from what I remember from school and always writing. (I still have several samples from them). -zarkianmouse 
There are always variations on forms, which is what makes them so much fun!
Thank you for including my poem in todays newsletter. Form poems are loads of fun. Try and create a picture with your poem words (lantern poems are great for haiku). -dwarf2012
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