Metaphor Simile A Piece of Cake and Easy As Pie Rhetoric Series Academy 4 Social Change

academy for social change presents metaphor and simile that test was piece of cake madeline says to lou as they walk to their next class yeah lou agrees each question flew by as fast as an airplane hope this test helps balance things more in my favor i've been walking thin tightrope in this class all semester if it breaks i'll be swimming with sharks your parents aren't that bad luke and sis your dad's like teddy bear for pete's sake throughout the daily conversations we make plenty of comparisons sometimes like luke we use similes while other times like madeline we use metaphors the main difference is that similes use like or as metaphors and similes are both comparisons similes explicitly link two things using the words like or as to do so metaphors meanwhile are more subtle implying an analogy without expressly stating one one trick for remembering the difference between simile and metaphor is that the word like and simile both have eyes in them and as in simile both have an remember that these rhetorical devices are figurative linking of subjects they're not stating the two things are exactly the same rather that there is resemblance between them the term metaphor can be traced back to the greek metaphorine which means to transfer from there it was used as the latin metaphora and later the french metaphore thus while the modern term metaphor only became regularly used by the 1500s its definition was well known centuries beforehand the term similarly likewise only became commonplace by the 1500s though the word is recorded being used two centuries earlier it developed in the latin word similis which means like metaphors and similes are used for symbolic or poetic effect it's understandable then why they have employed so often in songs poetry and literature they make abstract concepts like love and war easier to understand while painting vivid picture emily dickinson regularly employs metaphors to this effect hope is the thing with feathers that purges in the soul and sings the tomb without the words and never stops at all metaphors are more often used than similes when the speaker wants to create dramatic or very passionate piece however similes can express point just as clearly and beautifully like in margaret mitchell's gone with the wind the very mystery of him excited her curiosity like door that had neither locked nor key these rhetorical devices aren't only limited to the realm of storytelling since metaphors and similes are used to help convey an author's ideas vividly they can be used to help explain concepts of any kind similes are more often used for this purpose although metaphors can be employed as well for example say you have to explain what live stream was you might say it's like any other public video you find on the web only you're sharing the video and audio in real time so it's all happening live by linking familiar concept to an unknown one you're able to help others learn odds are if you've explained something to someone you've used similar metaphor to do so similes are more noticeable than metaphors but they both have their uses by linking two topics together you're able to create vivid picture and share it with others now it's your time to think further when would you use simile over metaphor or metaphor over simile