Animal Metaphors
Similes which compare human beings to animals are a stock tool of the writing trade. Precision is the key to making them work. When an author zeroes in on just the right animal to convey just the right comparison, it can really penetrate to the emotional center of a scene. A good example is illustrated here:
“And she said, Oh, Jon, you break my heart, that night when you came to my Tarp you were like a lion taking what he wanted but now you are some bunny wiffling his nose in fright.”
Toxic Relationships
Many metaphors exist with which to compare two people who should not get along. Toxic relationship, for instance. That which particularly paints a portrait of why two people should not be together makes the figurative comparison that much stronger. Here is a very simply stated metaphor that nevertheless paints a complex portrait of the toxicity going on here:
“Our baby is not my baby…I found out just before Christmas…That put me in a total funk—we were like match and gas.”
Darkness
Ah, darkness. Without darkness where would modern writers go for metaphor upon metaphor to describe the impact of all the negative emotions in the world upon the light of their optimism. Darkness is the metaphor of our age, almost certainly appearing in print more often than any other specific reference. And why not? It works every time, even when the imagery is a little confusing:
“I was so mad there was a darkness upon me.”
Poetry in the Midst of Depravity
Of course, the metaphorical comparison is not merely for the utilitarian use of describing something through simile. Metaphor is the language of poetry and even when stuck right in the middle of a paragraph describing depths of human depravity and inhumanity toward young woman, a metaphorical description of loving a child for a short period before the child is murdered can still attain levels of poetic beauty:
“A falling star is brief, but isn’t one nonetheless glad to have seen it?”
Sex
In addition to the specificity of darkness, sexual intercourse is a fertile ground for metaphor. The primary difference being that darkness is the same to everybody and sex is most definitely not. For proof of that, consider this:
“…where the stream of milk and the stream of honey enjoy to make that river of sweet-tasting goodness, I did not know that, upon making love, one person may become like the milk and the other like the honey, and soon they cannot even remember who started out the milk and who the honey, they just become one fluid, this like honey/milk combo.”
