Poetry 8

Literature for African Students

Poetry - Metaphor

For the purpose of the examination, the things to look for are the words like or as. "One sweet night, sweet as..." Here night is being compared with something. This is the essential feature of a simile. Night like a ...is another simile. But Night had robbed the guards... is a metaphor because here night is being personified (thought of like a human being) and the writer has created the image of night taking something away. So the same sentence contains both a simile and a metaphor.
Something to do
Make a list of all the metaphors and similes you can find in the above passage.
The sort of passage set in the Unseen section of the examination may not have as much metaphor as in the examples from Jami or Shakespeare.
Example: The beginning of the Song of Lawino

Husband, now you despise me
Now you treat me with spite
And say I have inherited the stupidity of my aunt;
Son of the chief,
Now you compare me with the rubbish in the rubbish pit
You say you no longer want me
Because I am like the things left behind
In the deserted homestead.

There may be two similes here. However, there aren't any metaphors. For the most part this poem doesn't use metaphor. (This doesn't mean it is a bad poem. You should try to read it all.)
This poem shows how difficult it is to decide whether there are similes present. You compare me with... and I am like.. may be similes. Some experts in literature would argue that they are; others that they are not. It doesn't make any difference to understanding and enjoying the poem. The absence of metaphors means that the poem is easy to understand. (It is the story of a traditional wife complaining that her husband has taken up with a woman who had been to school. But the poem as a whole is a metaphor for the problems caused by the coming of new ideas and influences to traditional Africa, and indeed, the whole planet.)

Shakespeare, like Jami, is full of metaphors. Here is the moment, in Romeo and Juliet (Act I scene v), where Romeo first sees Juliet.
Romeo: What lady is that which doth enrich the hand
of yonder knight?
Servant: I know not, sir.
Romeo: O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear;
Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!
So shows a snowy dove, trooping with crows
As yonder lady o'er her fellows shows.
The measure done, I'll watch her place of stand,
And, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand.
Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight!
For I ne'er saw beauty till this night.
This speech, by Romeo at the moment when, metaphorically, Cupid's dart has just struck his heart, shows Shakespeare full of Metaphor and Simile with Rhyme as well. (Shakespeare generally only introduces rhyme at key emotional points in his plays.)
Literally
Literally is the opposite of metaphorically. If the above paragraph had "literally" instead of "metaphorically" it would mean that Romeo had been struck by a concrete dart. Don't misuse this word. Some people use it when they mean "metaphorically" because, mistakenly, they believe it strengthens the effect of what they are saying.
I was literally struck dumb with astonishment. is a silly statement. The person could say: I was struck dumb with astonishment In this case everyone would understand that it is an exaggeration, a form of metaphor. Literally would mean he was unable to speak. But he has just spoken.
Metaphors
enrich the hand it means she is like a ring on the hand of her
escort; she shines out like a gold ring;
her presence makes the knight better off;
the knight is to be envied because she is there.

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