Writing Your Extended Metaphor Poem
Your extended metaphor poem should be at least twelve lines, focused on one particular object/animal/person for comparison, and utilizes a minimum of three related images that develop your “vehicle” – the object/animal/person you use for comparison. You may compare one animal, person, or thing to something not within the poem like an emotion, the spiritual, or life in general, or to another animal, person, or thing.
Weave a Deeper Meaning
An extended metaphor takes a single metaphor and stretches it through a large section of, or the entire poem.
Imagine your poem is a quilt. Each square of fabric is a word and the stitches that hold them all together are your extended metaphor. This thread gently tugs your reader along through your piece and creates a deeper meaning and a more vivid picture within their mind
Start with a simple metaphor, let’s go with your puppy is a vehicle. Now here is an example of extending that metaphor:
My puppy is a car
that drives me quite insane.
When I’m ready for the parking garage
He’s revving for a freeway lane.
His engines roar whenever
he wants to go for a romp.
He races right on over me
before I can holler, “STOP!”
Notice how the metaphor is expanded? The writer took elements of driving (i.e. Parking garage, revving, engines, races, and freeway lane) to show the reader how on earth a puppy is a car.
Best Good Acceptable Weak
a creative title is provided the poem contains a minimum of 12 lines
a creative title is provided the poem contains a minimum of 12 lines
the title is not particulary creative the poem contains only 8-10 lines
the title is not at all creative the poem contains only 5-7 lines
the extended metaphor is clear, focused, and maintained throughout the poem
the extended metaphor is clear, somewhat focused, but not maintained throughout the poem
the extended metaphor is not very clear, focused, and is not maintained throughout the poem
the extended metaphor is not present or recognizable within the poem
the poem contains at least one specific example of alliteration, onomatopoeia, simile, metaphor, and personification
the poem contains at least one specific example of alliteration, onomatopoeia, simile, metaphor, and personification
the poem contains only three specific examples of the required literary devices
the poem contains only one specific example of the required literary devices
the poem contains three specific examples of imagery
the poem contains three specific examples of imagery
the poem contains only two specific examples of imagery
the poem contains only one specific example of imagery
Personification
Personification is a figure of speech where a composer has given human qualities to an object or animal.
The old tree is an aged and tired man,
Its knobbly fingers tremble, reaching out
For its withering brown hat, blown off in the wind.
Text two
The first line is a metaphor. The composer has stated that two objects, a tree and a man, are the same thing. The next two lines give the tree human qualities. The composer has made the trees limbs ‘knobbly fingers’ and has given the tree a ‘brown hat’ instead of leaves. These examples of personification help to make the reader empathize with the object.
Extended Metaphor
Extend metaphors explore metaphors more deeply. Text two, as well as being an example of personification, is also an extended metaphor. The metaphor is not one line, as with the figure of speech mentioned above, but continues to lines two and three. Having stated that ‘the tree is an old man’, the composer in text two further explores the ways in which the old man and the tree have similar qualities.
Extended metaphors can be quite long. Text Tree is an extended metaphor composed by Alfred Lord Tennyson. It compares the leaving of a ship from the Thames (a famous river in London) to life, from birth to death. This is a particularly apt metaphor as ships had to wait until night-time for high tide before they could sail out to sea.
Crossing the Bar
Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,
But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;
For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.
–Lord Alfred Tennyson
Notes
The bar referred to is a sandspit or similar promontory at the mouth of a river or harbour where tides have deposited sand over time. To hear the wind and waves moaning of the bar can be a portent of bad weather and a bad voyage.