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Metaphors compare two things indirectly, with implied metaphors using tangible objects to represent abstract ideas. They can take many forms, including being statements and verbs. Metaphors provide information briefly and add variety to writing, but clichés should be avoided. Implied metaphors are not the same as synecdoche and metonymy.
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things. When this comparison is made indirectly, without using the specific term for the comparison, it is known as an implied metaphor. An example is the sentence “John galloped to the end of the pavement,” in which the word “gallop” suggests that John moved as a horse does without making the direct comparison.
Any comparison that uses a tangible or simple object as a representative of something more abstract is known as a metaphor. The statement “Her love was an ocean,” for example, uses the image of an ocean to say that his love is vast, wide, and deep. A similar metaphor might say: “She was drowning in love.” Linguists have classified other types of metaphors as well, including extended, dead, and mixed.
The simplest metaphors take the form of “being” statements, such as “Peter is a snake in the grass.” An implied metaphor, on the other hand, can make the comparison in many different ways. For example, “Sliding alongside him, Peter hissed, ‘You can trust me.'” That sentence uses a verb and participle to show that Peter is like a snake without ever saying so specifically.
One purpose of a metaphor is to provide information briefly. Metaphors show what the author is communicating instead of telling with a list of adjectives and adverbs. Without them, an author might write “Mary liked the gift. She was happy and content as she watched him”. The same information is given with a metaphor implicit in the sentence, “Mary purred on the gift.”
Authors can achieve variety by writing with metaphors, as long as those metaphors have not been overused. Clichés, like “keep your cards close to your chest” and “down the drain,” are phrases that have been used so much that they’ve lost their comparative power. The proverb “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,” for example, no longer reminds people of hunting. Good writers avoid clichés whenever possible.
Implied metaphors are often confused with synecdoche and metonymy. While metaphors use different objects to indicate a similarity, synecdoche and metonymy use those objects to represent something else entirely. “The crown arrived at Windsor Castle last night” is an example of a metonym because it uses “crown” to replace royal names.
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