Comparisons

Question

How to write sentences when we're comparing things...let's say we're comparing hope with rainbow.

He held on to his rainbow, one they called hope.

He held on to the rainbow that was hope.

He held on to the rainbow, one called hope.

Is it okay to compare in this way? If not, what are the other (poetic) ways to compare?

Mr Wordy · Accepted Answer

"He held on to the rainbow that was hope" could work, poetically, in some types of writing. However, it doesn't seem a natural or common enough metaphor to be used *****-nilly in ordinary everyday English. If you plonked it into everyday conversation then it would seem strange or pretentious.

Your other two sentences are even more unusual. They are not impossible, but would need a special context (a poem, say, or highly stylised piece of creative writing) to be usable.

Anonymous · Answer

Thanks. Are there other ways of writing it, then? 'He held on to the rainbow called hope' sounds too plain to me.

Mr Wordy · Answer

Anonymous
Thanks. Are there other ways of writing it, then? 'He held on to the rainbow called hope' sounds too plain to me.

I wouldn't exactly call it "plain". I know it's a short sentence, but it seems like quite an ornate use of words.

I can't think of any clearly preferable alternative ways to word this. As I said, it's a fairly unusual idea -- and all the more so if you want to say that the rainbow is called hope. Because it's an unsual and creative sentence, there aren't really standard "right" and "wrong" idiomatic ways of saying it.

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