Poetry and metaphor

Techniques > Use of language > Metaphor > Poetry and metaphor

What is poetry? | Painting new picture | Extending the metaphor | See also

What is poetry?

Poetry is a kind of compressed literature, where the poet tries to communicate with the reader through relatively words, painting verbal pictures that perhaps changes the reader's mind in some way. In the same way of most art, the goal of the poet is to stimulate the reader, making them feel something new, changing their perceptions.

Although rhyme occurs in some poetry it is far from necessary. Poems still however are broken into individual lines, which differentiates it from prose, which uses more conventional sentences and paragraphs.

Painting new pictures

Poetry achieves its end often by word art, painting of pictures with words. Sensory metaphors are thus a critical tool of the poet as they trigger physical feelings that lead to emotional arousal.

She was a vision of blinding angels,
The silent beating of wings deafening.
Her perfume intoxicating, hyperventilating.
Oh, the taste of those lips,
The lightest caress!

Extending the metaphor

Extended metaphors often appear in poems, where a single metaphoric vehicle is chosen and then used for a significant proportion or perhaps throughout the whole poem. The target subject may not even be mentioned, as the poet leaves the reader guessing.

My love is a red rose of the heart
Bleeding petals of life's breath
Thorns that rip love apart
Ragged, in the garden of death