Metaphor: The Engine of Great Poetry

Now that you are carefully hunting for the perfect word, let's talk about using those words to create startling and unforgettable images. 

Words can do more than merely describe reality. A powerful metaphor doesn't explain what something is like; it makes us experience it in an entirely new way. 

Metaphor comes from the ancient Greek root word metaphora, meaning “carry across.” These figures of speech allow us to carry across meaning from one word to another. By doing so, we allow the two concepts to play off each other in a unique and revelatory way. 

To be a bit posh, we can expand the definition of a metaphor to the thing described (the tenor) and the comparison (the vehicle). And the greater the tension between the tenor and the vehicle, the more surprising the figure of speech becomes. 

But remember, surprise alone won’t make a great metaphor. Your vehicle must reveal something meaningful in your tenor; otherwise, the image is merely interesting instead of insightful.

For example, Warsan Shire reflects on the refugee experience and writes the powerful line: 

"No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark," 

In this example, the tenor is home, while the shark's mouth is the vehicle. 

Now imagine she had said:

No one leaves home unless there is danger there.

Mmmm. You don't feel much, do you?

Instead, see how the metaphor transforms the tenor of home into something predatory and immediate. How much closer does the danger feel when Shire uses a startling vehicle in this way?

These word mash-ups create a vivid image in the reader's mind, making abstract concepts tangible and catching the hidden layers and often contradictory nature of human experience. 

As poet Jane Hirschfield says: Metaphors get under your skin by ghosting right past the logical mind.

Watch Out For Clichés!

Metaphors are embedded in the language we speak. Our language is riddled with metaphors (that's a metaphor in itself!) from raining cats and dogs to carrying a torch for your office crush or hitting a brick wall. 

They have been passed from mother to child since we started using words to communicate something other than food, fighting, or fucking. 

These often-used sayings are so much a part of communication that they slip under our radar. In fact, they are so well-worn that when we encounter them in writing, our minds gloss over them without examining their imagery, which is a disaster if you use them in your poetry. 

So strive for fresh metaphors that throw up images that are unusual, contradictory, and stop your readers in their tracks with a sudden flash of insight. 

Like Spanish poet Pablo Neruda’s heart walking barefoot in the streets, or Zambian-born Kayo Chingonyi, to whom:

“English is a coat / that doesn't fit my shoulders right.” 

Who can forget Ukrainian poet Ilya Kaminsky's reference to his country, which he compares to a “rug / we roll over the bodies” 

Powerful stuff. 

The Caveat

However, there is a caveat when using these powerful comparisons. A powerful metaphor needs space to breathe. Often, it's the most striking when it emerges from everyday, simple words. Cramming too many metaphors in a tight space dilutes their impact and may fatigue your reader.

Unless, of course, you are aiming to convey a breathless barrage of imagery. In which case, pack 'em in!

Also dont start your poem with a sailing metaphor and then jump to a castle or a garden. Once you plant your first strong metaphor, you are kinda locked in. The following metaphors should be in the same imaginative world as your initial metaphor. 

For example, have a look at Brian Bilston’s funny take on poems that have mixed metaphors: titled How to Avoid Mixing Your Metaphors: 

"I was thinking of a poem / to get my teeth into, / something that would strike a chord / and look good on my CV. / But I found myself at a crossroads / up a certain creek without a paddle, / and the architectural framework / of my poem began to unravel."

However, like any rule, poets can and do break it. Mixed metaphors can work if the poet deliberately sets out to create dissonance—a fractured identity, memory, or emotional instability. 

Similes

Now let's get to metaphors' little cousin, the simile. This figure of speech also makes a comparison, but uses like or as to join two usually disparate elements. Poet James Geary refers to a simile as just a metaphor with the scaffolding still up.

Although a valuable tool in the poet's arsenal, a simile does not pack the immediacy of a metaphor. However, you should never underestimate the power of a well-wrought simile to conjure a striking image.

Because they keep the comparison visible, similes often create a little more distance between tenor and vehicle than metaphors, but they can still move a reader when carefully constructed.

Look how beautifully E.E. Cumming’s uses a simile here: 

“you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens 

(touching skillfully, mysteriously) her first rose”

Or one of Ted Hughes' masterful similes:

"Tuning of a violin, in this forest delicate as an owl's ear, /

Brings the wolves running..." 

Now It’s Your Turn

Let's practice hunting for a powerful metaphor. Choose one of the following abstract nouns:

• Love 

• Despair

• Innocence

• Hatred

• Joy

• Truth 

Without holding back, plumb your imagination for images that your chosen word evokes. Dont edit yourself! You will find your initial images may be cliché, but the further you search, the more unusual the imagery may become.

For instance, for me, truth evoked an image of a bible and scales of justice, boring stuff. Then my mind threw up someone standing blindfolded, ready for an old-fashioned execution like a Goya print from the Spanish Revolution. Then a doctor holding a syringe. Okay, I am weird. 

Now look through your list and find the one image that is the most unusual and arresting. Write a short poem exploring the image without using the abstract noun that you have based the poem on.

Dont be afraid to bring in your senses. How does it sound, feel, taste, smell? Metaphors aren't only decorations; they can generate the world of your poem. 

For Carol Ann Duffy, for example, her Valentine's gift is an onion—not a clichéd offering of chocolates or roses, but “a moon wrapped in brown paper,” “a lover,” “a careful undressing of love” that will “blind you with tears.” The central metaphor keeps evolving, its sting evoking the many layers of intimacy and love.

When you are done, use the abstract word as your poem's title.