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Types of Metaphor

This document defines and provides examples of different types of metaphors: - Active metaphors are noticeable while dead metaphors are part of daily language. - Complex metaphors build on other metaphors while compound metaphors suggest multiple similarities. - Absolute metaphors have no discernible resemblance while implicit metaphors do not specify the subject. - Submerged metaphors imply the comparison while simple metaphors only have one point of similarity. - Root metaphors shape understanding unconsciously and conceptual metaphors underlie related expressions. - Dying metaphors are cliches that are worn out but used for convenience.

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Prasoon G Das
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523 views

Types of Metaphor

This document defines and provides examples of different types of metaphors: - Active metaphors are noticeable while dead metaphors are part of daily language. - Complex metaphors build on other metaphors while compound metaphors suggest multiple similarities. - Absolute metaphors have no discernible resemblance while implicit metaphors do not specify the subject. - Submerged metaphors imply the comparison while simple metaphors only have one point of similarity. - Root metaphors shape understanding unconsciously and conceptual metaphors underlie related expressions. - Dying metaphors are cliches that are worn out but used for convenience.

Uploaded by

Prasoon G Das
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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1.

An active metaphor is one which by contrast to a dead metaphor, is not


part of daily language and is noticeable as a metaphor. Example: You are my
sun.
2. A complex metaphor is one which mounts one identification on another.
Example: That throws some light on the question. Throwing light is a
metaphor and there is no actual light.
3. A compound or loose metaphor is one that catches the mind with several
points of similarity. Example: He has the wild stags foot. This phrase
suggests grace and speed as well as daring.
4. An absolute or Para logical metaphor (sometimes called an ant
metaphor) is one in which there is no discernible point of resemblance
between the tenor and the vehicle. Examples:
5. The couch is the autobahn of the living room.
6. Six Flags is the aquarium of roller coasters.
7. An implicit metaphor is one in which the tenor is not specified but implied.
Example: Shut your trap! Here, the mouth of the listener is the unspecified
tenor.
8. A submerged metaphor is one in which the vehicle is implied, or indicated
by one aspect. Example: my winged thought. Here, the audience must
supply the image of the bird.
9. A simple or tight metaphor is one in which there is but one point of
resemblance between the tenor and the vehicle. Example: Cool it. In this
example, the vehicle, cool, is a temperature and nothing else, so the tenor,
it, can only be grounded to the vehicle by one attribute.
10.A root metaphor is the underlying association that shapes an individuals
understanding of a situation. Examples would understand life as a dangerous
journey, seeing life as a hard test, or thinking of life as a good party. A root
metaphor is different from the previous types of metaphor in that it is not
necessarily an explicit device in language, but a fundamental, often
unconscious, assumption.
Religion provides one common source of root metaphors, since birth,
marriage, death and other universal life experiences can convey a very
different meaning to different people, based on their level or type of religious
conditioning or otherwise. For example, some religions see life as a single
arrow pointing toward a future endpoint. Others see it as part of an endlessly
repeating cycle. In his book World Hypotheses, the philosopher Stephen
Pepper coined the term and proposed a theory of four ultimate root
metaphorsformism, mechanism, organicism, contextualism.
11.A conceptual metaphor is an underlying association that is systematic in
both language and thought. For example in the Dylan Thomas poem Do Not
Go Gentle into That Good Night, the conceptual metaphor of A Lifetime is a

Day is repeatedly expressed and extended throughout the entire poem. The
same conceptual metaphor is the key to solving the Riddle of the Sphinx:
What goes on four legs in the morning, two legs at midday, and three in
evening? A man. Similar to root metaphors, conceptual metaphors are not
only expressed in words, but are also habitual modes of thinking underlying
many related metaphoric expressions.
Because they both underlie more than just the surface metaphoric
expression, root metaphors and conceptual metaphors are easily confused.
For example: In the United States, both conservatives and liberals use family
metaphors for the national politics, though in different ways. Both types of
usage would ultimately resolve to organic root metaphors in Peppers
nomenclature, while Lakoff would distinguish between several different
varieties of the A Nation is A Family metaphor.
12.A dying metaphor Coined in his essay Politics and the English Language
George Orwell calls a dead metaphor one that has been worn out and is used
because it saves people the trouble of developing original language to
express an idea. It is all but dead. In short, it is clich. Example: Achilles heel.
Orwell suggests that writers scan their work for such dying forms that they
have seen regularly before in print and replace them with alternative
language patterns.

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