What makes a metaphor good

Using metaphor allows a writer to create images related to dreaming, and use words to beautiful effect. One effect of metaphor on the reader is that it creates connection and empathy — because metaphor delivers more than literal significance, it can make a reader understand something at a deeper level than any literal description. This is not just an effective use of language — it contributes to creating an individual voice and style for a writer.

Get even more creative writing advice and inspiration with our monthly newsletters straight to your inbox. My heart is a balloon. Your first paragraph may be the best thing I've ever read on this site. The above "example" is no longer applicable to my edited answer, but I'm leaving it up since it's a pretty cool simile anyway.

Can you think of any examples offhand? In that case, the metaphor includes a description of the ships and fits well with the surrounding text. And the original appearance of the line in a radio drama was spoken by someone who could pull it off. Imagine, say, Jim Carrey or Candice Bergen saying that; it wouldn't have worked at all. Not a radio drama? Show 2 more comments.

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Accept all cookies Customize settings. That might give you plenty of character ideas about your goalie and his deeper thoughts and ideas. The goalie, pressured from all sides with unrelenting force, slipped deeper into his pocket, finding swells below the surface that buoyed him along and kept him focused on the predator that was descending. Writing Techniques. Here are three popular examples of metaphors: Love is a battlefield.

You light up my life! He broke my heart. Think of some of the most famous metaphors and how full they are of meaning. She was a bull in a china shop. The email was the smoking gun in the investigation. This is using a metaphor in a less direct manner. The paper was white as snow. She had a heart of stone. A simile is comparing something using the words like or as : Simile: Her teeth glittered like shards of glass when she smiled.

Metaphor: Her teeth were shards of glass when she smiled. Common Questions about Metaphors No articles found.