Extended Metaphor
Introduced| English |
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| An extended metaphor/ən ekˈstendɪd ˈmetəfɔː/ |
The comparison is about traits, not objects
- Metaphorical comparisons do not focus solely on the objects being compared; they focus on the particular traits, qualities or characteristics of the things being compared.
- This restates unit 2's rule in the CED's strongest form.
- So an answer that discusses the object rather than the trait has analysed the wrong noun.
Calling someone a lighthouse does not mean they are tall and need repainting; choose the relevant trait.
Select all the conditions for an extended metaphor.
Persists and expanded — a repeated metaphor meets only the first.
Comparisons transmit a perspective
- Comparisons not only communicate literal meaning but may also convey figurative meaning or transmit a perspective.
- So a metaphor is evidence about whoever made it, as well as about its subject.
- Ask who chose this comparison, and what choosing it says about them.
Metaphorical comparisons focus on...
An answer that discusses the object has analysed the wrong noun.
What makes a metaphor extended
- An extended metaphor 延伸隐喻 is created when the comparison of a main subject and comparison subject persists through parts of or an entire text, and when the comparison is expanded through additional details, similes and images.
- Two conditions: it persists, and it is expanded.
- A metaphor repeated unchanged is not extended — nothing was added.
Follow an extended metaphor to its break
An extended metaphor is a metaphor with obligations, and the break is deliberate.
A comparison can transmit a perspective as well as meaning.
So a metaphor is evidence about whoever made it, as well as about its subject.
A repeated metaphor is not an extended one. The CED requires the comparison to persist and be expanded through additional details, similes and images. Saying "the metaphor is extended because it appears three times" misses the second condition, which is where all the analysis is.
Across a long extension, the transferred ____ can change from one stage to the next.
The same comparison can begin as shelter and end as trap.
Context still decides
- Interpretation of an extended metaphor may depend on the context of its use.
- Across a long extension the transferred quality can change — the same comparison can start as shelter and end as trap.
- So track what is being transferred at each stage, not once at the beginning.
Put the extended-metaphor pass in order.
The last step is where a long metaphor stops being one observation.
An extended-metaphor pass
- Name the main subject and comparison subject once.
- List every point where the comparison is expanded, and what each addition contributes.
- Say what quality is transferred at the start and what is transferred at the end.
The marriage is compared to a house. Expanded: a roof that was never finished, a door that only opens inward, a room nobody uses. The transferred quality begins as shelter and ends as confinement, and no single line states the change — the additions carry it.
Metaphorical comparisons focus on traits, qualities or characteristics, not the objects. They may transmit a perspective about whoever made them. An extended metaphor persists and is expanded through additional details, similes and images — and context decides what is transferred at each stage.