What is extended metaphor

Authors use conceits to challenge readers to find connections between even the most dissimilar things. This connection creates meaning that is often difficult to express through other means.

One of the main reasons authors use metaphors is to simplify abstract concepts and themes that they are trying to communicate to an audience. Because of the detail and length of extended metaphors, authors can elaborate on standard metaphors to be more effective. Extended metaphor poems utilize this function to a great degree. Frost makes the comparison between two roads and life choices. The concepts of life choices, indecision, and uncertainty can be difficult to articulate.

But in this extended metaphor example, Frost uses the metaphor to perfectly communicate his thoughts to the reader in an engaging way. What makes this metaphor example engaging? Frost uses vivid imagery to bring the poem to life. Not only are metaphors more effective at communicating abstract ideas, they are substantially more interesting. Authors and philosophers have used extended metaphors to illustrate their more abstract ideas in a way that captivates readers and audiences. A great example of this can be found in the No Country for Old Men screenplay.

In this scene, Lieutenant Bell is trying to tell Carla Jean that no matter how prepared her husband is, he is still in danger.

To convince her of this fact, Bell uses the extended metaphor. We brought the screenplay into the StudioBinder screenwriting software to analyze it further. The vivid imagery Bell uses to describe the uncertainty of any outcome not only makes his point more convincing, but a whole lot more engaging.

Whether you are writing a poem, novel, or screenplay consider using metaphors to explain your ideas rather than simply explaining them outright.

Some extended metaphors continue throughout the entire length of a poem or novel, adding elements and increasing in complexity. Extended metaphors are extremely useful for revealing things about the characters, the theme of the work, or other elements of the story—often in a very memorable way.

An extended metaphor is sometimes called a conceit , especially in poetry. The possibilities for creating metaphors and extended metaphors are endless, and they can be used to express an unlimited amount of ideas.

Except that, unlike jokes, the run-up to the rim shot is not tedious. His prose is limpid, unselfconscious, quietly, unobtrusively beautiful. Which of the following entries is the best example of an extended metaphor? Her eyes were like the sun. There is an army of children in that house. Life is a rodeo.

Over all, the lines develop an extended metaphor of remarkable breadth. They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms Last scene of all, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion, Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

To analyze just one part of this extended metaphor, in the final sentence Jaques speaks of the "last scene of all," referencing death—when each of us "plays the part" of someone who has regressed to a childlike state, having lost everything: teeth, vision, taste, and, finally, life. Romeo delivers this monologue in Act 2, Scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet , after sneaking into Juliet's garden and catching a glimpse of her on her balcony.

Romeo compares Juliet to a radiant sun, and then extends the metaphor by entreating her to "kill the envious moon. But, soft! It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, Who is already sick and pale with grief, That thou her maid art far more fair than she: Be not her maid, since she is envious; Her vestal livery is but sick and green And none but fools do wear it; cast it off. The moon is used here as a symbol of virginity, so when Romeo states that Juliet is the moon's maid, he means that she's still a virgin, and when he entreats her to "kill the moon" and "cast off" its vestal livery a garment worn by virgins , he's suggesting that she should part with her virginity.

The metaphor of the sun Juliet killing the moon her virginity works because the sun can be said to "kill the moon" each day—in the sense that its bright light drowns out the light of the moon in the sky, making it invisible. In "Firework," Perry uses an extended metaphor to compare a firework to an inner "spark" of resilience which, in the context of the song, stands in opposition to the dreary experience of life and the difficulty of communicating with others.

Here's an excerpt of the lyrics that captures the extended metaphor in action:. The following quote from Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech is a clear example of extended metaphor, as MLK builds upon the initial metaphor of "cashing a check" in each successive sentence:.

When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds.

We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.

And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. Writers use extended metaphors for many of the same reasons they use metaphors in general:. Extended Metaphor. Extended Metaphor Definition.

Extended Metaphor Examples. Extended Metaphor Function. Extended Metaphor Resources. LitCharts Teacher Editions. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of every Shakespeare play.

Sign Up. The amount of detail can vary from that of a sentence or a paragraph, to encompassing an entire work. In an extended metaphor, the author takes a single metaphor and employs it at length, using various subjects, images, ideas and situations. They are commonly used in poetry, as well as prose. You have probably come across many examples of extended metaphor and have most likely understood them. You may have even used them yourself, without realizing what they were.

The fox would represent the criminal and the chickens would represent the victims. A poet wanting to express his love might write a poem about planets and suns. The sun would represent the object of that love and the revolving planet would represent the one who is in love, encircling that sun, drawing warmth and nourishing life from it.

Someone wanting to write a commentary on society might set her story amongst a pack of wolves or a flock of birds. That author would use the animals as characters , rather than humans, and in that way, depict the animalistic qualities that humans can display. A conceit is an intricate, intellectual or far-fetched metaphor. In a conceit, the author makes a comparison between two objects which, at first glance, appear to be absolutely unlike one another.

By using this highly imaginative comparison, the author challenges the reader to see their relationship in a totally new way. The poem would then continue to describe why this seemingly unlikely statement is indeed relevant or true.

The desired result is that the reader would have an imaginative adventure and ultimately see things with a surprising new perspective. An allegory is the representation of abstract ideas or principles by characters , figures, or events in narrative, dramatic, or pictorial form. An allegory uses extended metaphor, but an extended metaphor is not necessarily an allegory. Lewis are both allegories.