Please help with extended metaphore

Question

0 Hey guys, ok well i got this LA assingment, and well we have to write out an extended metaphore for our lives, there was alot of ups and downs in my life02br02br00Anyone has a clue what i can compare it too?02br00or what metaphore i can write???02br00Thank you so much everyone02br00One and only 02br00BB0-

Clive · Accepted Answer

0Hi,02br
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00How about a roller-coaster ride? But it's not very original.00 It's better if you think of your own image, you'll get a better mark.02br
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00Best wishes, Clive0-

Anonymous · Answer

0He is water that tries to flow steadily but cannot avoid  watrefalls0-

English Expert · Answer

0 As you probably realise, an extended metaphor is a comparison that provides the basis for a whole poem/substantial passage of a poem. A single image lies at the core, but many aspects of the idea are elaborated and developed. You need, then, to find an image that will provide several points of comparison. It's best to keep the central image simple and vivid to the imagination, and then work it through to draw out further connections, broadening and deepening the significance.02br
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00A famous example of an extended metaphor (er, in this case actually an extended simile) is John Donne's comparison of two separated lovers to the two legs of a compass. The basic image is very simple. A compass.02br
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00The first point that is made is that they are two in the same way that a compass is two: 02br
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01i00If they be two, they are two so02br
00 As still twin compasses are two02i00. 02br
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00The suggestion is that they are two in a particular way, in the way of a compass - they are not entirely two, but are connected even when separate. Then he develops the comparison in more detail - his lover is like the fixed point of a compass, does not move, and follows the movement of the poet:02br
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01i00 Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show02br
00 To move, but doth, if th'other do.02br
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02i00 In the next stanza, the mechanics of the compass, the way the fixed leg tilts as the other leg moves further away, decribes his lover's yearnings:02br
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01i00 And though it in the center sit,02br
00 Yet when the other far doth roam,02br
00 It leasn and hearkens after it,02br
00 And grows erect, as that comes home.02br
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02i00Donne's approach is almost over-detailed and meticulous, taking the prosaic mechanics of a technical device to describe a relationship. But the effect is refreshing, quirky and oddly endearing. 02br
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01i00 Such wilt thou be to me, who must,02br
00 Like th'other foot, obliquely run;02br
00 Thy firmness makes my circle just,02br
00 And makes me end where I begun.02br
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02i00Using an extended metaphor allows you to express larger ideas while grounding them in the specific, concrete and familiar/commonplace. Originality is important not merely for the sake of it, but because a well-trodden (!) metaphor can't actually tell us anything new/illuminate your idea. An over-used metaphor becomes a dead metaphor and no longer functions (eg life like a roller-coaster). The whole point of a metaphor is that what presents itself initially to the mind is the image/literal meaning. There should be tension between the image itself and the metaphorical connections (when we say that life is like a roller-coaster, the instant idea before our minds is not a roller-coaster because we are over-familiar with the conceit).02br
00So think of something specific, familiar and ordinary, something that occurs to you as being comparable with your experiences. 02br
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00Here's also "The Hound" by Robert Francis: (on the poetry free for all website)02br
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01i00Life the hound02br
00 Equivocal02br
00 Comes at a bound02br
00 Either to rend me02br
00 Or to befriend me.02br
00 I cannot tell02br
00 The hound's intent02br
00 Till he has sprung02br
00 At my bare hand02br
00 With teeth or tongue.02br
00 Meanwhile I stand02br
00 And wait the event.02i02br
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00Here, life is a dog running up to the poet. But the idea is extended to make a very vivid portrayal of the poet's feelings about life. 02br
00Hope that's of some help.02br
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Please help with extended metaphore

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