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SIMILE
This is the method of
comparing two or more things using like or as.
He runs like a
deer.
She is as tall as her father.
He was like a lion
among his enemies.
METAPHOR
This is the
method of comparing two or more persons or things without using like or
as. Unlike a simile, metaphor asserts that one thing is another thing, not
just that one is like another. Metaphor assists thought by evoking a
visual image.
He is a lion among his enemies.
Sorie is a
deer; no-one can run faster than him
Sometimes a metaphor is so
entrenched within a sentence that the writer does not need to say
x-is-y.
The fountain of knowledge will dry up unless it is continuously
replenished by streams of new learning.
All our efforts have gone down
the drain.
Once she had been his lovely wild rose; now she was the
thorn in his flesh.
Religious books are rich in metaphors and this
helps to create vivid pictures in the mind:
The lord is my shepherd, I
shall not be in
want.
---Psalm 23:1
Then, as for him whose scales are
heavy, he will live a pleasant life.
QUR'AN CHAPTER 101: AL-QARIA
"Your eye is the lamp of your
body; when your eye is sound, your whole body is full of light; but when
it is not sound, your body is full of darkness." --
Luke
11:34 (RSV)
PERSONIFICATION
This is the
art of giving human qualities to things. It involves endowing animals,
inanimate objects with human qualities and abilities.
The leaves
are dancing in the wind.
The sun was smiling in the
morning.
Our car isn't well; she has engine problem.
The
hungry flames ate the entire house quickly
Truth, crushed to
earth, will rise again.
The thief thinks he can run, but the
long arm of the law will get hold of him.
For us to conclude
that an expression is a personification, we have to be sure that it is a
legitimate human attribute which is not a natural quality of
things
(or that thing we are describing). If that attribute is common to other
things as well it is better to regard it as a metaphor.
Fear cast
its shadow on us. (metaphor)
They have hatched a new plot
against me.(metaphor)
The factory was crippled by strike
action. (personification)
Corruption is eating into the fabric
of our society.(personification)
You have to swallow you pride
and beg him
(metaphor)
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