Emotion in poetry: use of metaphors and similes
Website design By BotEap.comPoetry needs emotion, but we need to create emotion with words, the creation called imagery. To enhance the emotion of any writing, we can use poetic devices. The use of metaphors or similes is a way to strengthen (intensify, invigorate the expression, support, vitalize, justify, stimulate, enhance) the emotion.
Website design By BotEap.comA metaphor is the comparison of two different things by saying that one is the other. An example would be “love is honey spilled on life.” Love is not honey, but the comparison creates a mental image of added sweetness to life.
Website design By BotEap.comA simile is the comparison of two different things saying that one is the same or like the other: “Love is like honey spilled on life.”
Website design By BotEap.comMetaphors and similes are very similar in what they do when writing. Both compare different things.
Website design By BotEap.comRemember the children’s song, author unknown:
Website design By BotEap.comshine shine little star
How I wonder what you are
Above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky. Website design By BotEap.comComparing the star to a diamond is a simile. But that comparison doesn’t show the emotion, right? Website design By BotEap.comSo, let’s think of an emotion. Shame is an emotion that most people have felt at some point. Now, to what can we compare shame? Website design By BotEap.comShame is like a dirty, smoothing blanket that clouds our vision. Shame is a monster that steals our self-esteem. Shame makes us feel tarnished, unworthy, like a statue that has sat in the rain until it was worn out. Shame shrouds us in gray, hiding us from the love of others. That gives us a start for a poem that includes the emotion shame and some ideas for metaphors or similes. Website design By BotEap.comPity
by Vivian Gilbert Zabel Website design By BotEap.comI am naked before the world,
My flaws and flaws
Exposed for all to see.
Like a sticky, tattooed blanket,
A cloud of despair suffocates me.
Layers of gray with stripes
Of blinding black press me
to the ground, a broken statue,
Clouded by the relentless rain
And worn by the complaining wind. Website design By BotEap.comI can’t lift my head to look
In case others turn away from me,
Disdain shown in his eyes.
Shame turns trust into
disgust for myself, burn
like a fire without heat,
Just a chill that leaves no comfort.
How can anyone love me?
When I’m dishonored in life
Being who and what I am? Website design By BotEap.comThe above poem has two similes and one metaphor. The simile states that a cloud of despair, like a worn and tattered blanket, suffocates the narrator. The other says that disgust burns like a fire without heat. The metaphor compares the narrator to a broken statue. They all help to strengthen the emotion in the poem, enhancing the feeling of shame. Alliteration is also used: tacky, tattered; blinding black; unrelenting rain; spent, moaning, wind; disdain shown. Website design By BotEap.comHopefully we can enhance our poetry and add emotion and imagery using metaphors, similes, or both. Let’s try to practice using these in our writing to see how we can create more power in our poems.
How I wonder what you are
Above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky. Website design By BotEap.comComparing the star to a diamond is a simile. But that comparison doesn’t show the emotion, right? Website design By BotEap.comSo, let’s think of an emotion. Shame is an emotion that most people have felt at some point. Now, to what can we compare shame? Website design By BotEap.comShame is like a dirty, smoothing blanket that clouds our vision. Shame is a monster that steals our self-esteem. Shame makes us feel tarnished, unworthy, like a statue that has sat in the rain until it was worn out. Shame shrouds us in gray, hiding us from the love of others. That gives us a start for a poem that includes the emotion shame and some ideas for metaphors or similes. Website design By BotEap.comPity
by Vivian Gilbert Zabel Website design By BotEap.comI am naked before the world,
My flaws and flaws
Exposed for all to see.
Like a sticky, tattooed blanket,
A cloud of despair suffocates me.
Layers of gray with stripes
Of blinding black press me
to the ground, a broken statue,
Clouded by the relentless rain
And worn by the complaining wind. Website design By BotEap.comI can’t lift my head to look
In case others turn away from me,
Disdain shown in his eyes.
Shame turns trust into
disgust for myself, burn
like a fire without heat,
Just a chill that leaves no comfort.
How can anyone love me?
When I’m dishonored in life
Being who and what I am? Website design By BotEap.comThe above poem has two similes and one metaphor. The simile states that a cloud of despair, like a worn and tattered blanket, suffocates the narrator. The other says that disgust burns like a fire without heat. The metaphor compares the narrator to a broken statue. They all help to strengthen the emotion in the poem, enhancing the feeling of shame. Alliteration is also used: tacky, tattered; blinding black; unrelenting rain; spent, moaning, wind; disdain shown. Website design By BotEap.comHopefully we can enhance our poetry and add emotion and imagery using metaphors, similes, or both. Let’s try to practice using these in our writing to see how we can create more power in our poems.