A metaphor is a figure of speech that describes a subject by asserting that it is, on some point of comparison, the same as another

otherwise unrelated object. Metaphor is a type of analogy and is closely related to other rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via association, comparison or resemblance including allegory, hyperbole, and simile. In simpler terms, a metaphor compares two objects or things without using the words "like" or "as". One of the most prominent examples of a metaphor in English literature is the All the world's a stage monologue from As You Like It: All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances; William Shakespeare, As You Like It, 2/7[1] This quote is a metaphor because the world is not literally a stage. By figuratively asserting that the world is a stage, Shakespeare uses the points of comparison between the world and a stage to convey an understanding about the mechanics of the world and the lives of the people within it.

Contents

1 Structure 2 Etymology 3 Comparison with other types of analogy 4 Common types 5 Use outside rhetoric o 5.1 Conceptual metaphor o 5.2 Nonlinguistic metaphor 6 In historical linguistics 7 Historical theories of metaphor o 7.1 Metaphor as style in speech and writing o 7.2 Metaphor as foundational to our conceptual system 8 See also 9 Notes 10 References 11 External links

Structure
The Philosophy of Rhetoric (1936) by I. A. Richards describes a metaphor as having two parts: the tenor and the vehicle. The tenor is the subject to which attributes are ascribed. The vehicle is the object whose attributes are borrowed. In the previous example, "the world" is compared to a stage, describing it with the attributes of "the stage"; "the world" is

the tenor, and "a stage" is the vehicle; "men and women" is a secondary tenor, "players" is the secondary vehicle. Other writers employ the general terms ground and figure to denote tenor and the vehicle. In cognitive linguistics, the terms target and source are used respectively.

Etymology
The English metaphor derives from the 16th-century Old French mtaphore, which comes from the Latin metaphora, "carrying over", in turn from the Greek (metaphor), "transfer",[2] from (metapher), "to carry over", "to transfer"[3] and that from (meta), "between"[4] + (pher), "to bear", "to carry".[5]

Comparison with other types of analogy

Metaphors are most frequently compared with similes. The Colombia Encyclopedia, 6th edition, explains the difference as: a simile states that A is like B, a metaphor states that A is B or substitutes B for A. Where a metaphor asserts the two objects in the comparison are identical on the point of comparison, a simile merely asserts a similarity. For this reason a metaphor is generally considered more forceful than a simile. The metaphor category also contains these specialised types:

allegory: An extended metaphor wherein a story illustrates an important attribute of the subject. catachresis: A mixed metaphor used by design and accident (a rhetorical fault). parable: An extended metaphor narrated as an anecdote illustrating and teaching such as in Aesop's fables, or Jesus' teaching method as told in the Bible.

Metaphor, like other types of analogy, can usefully be distinguished from metonymy as one of two fundamental modes of thought. Metaphor and analogy both work by bringing together two concepts from different conceptual domains, whereas metonymy works by using one element from a given domain to refer to another closely related element. Thus, a metaphor creates new links between otherwise distinct conceptual domains, whereas a metonymy relies on the existing links within them.