Poetry needs emotion, but we need to create emotion with words, the creation of which is called imagery. To enhance the emotion of any writing, we can use poetic devices. The use of metaphors or similes is a way to strengthen (intensify, invigorate expression, support, vitalize, justify, stimulate, enhance) emotion.
A metaphor is the comparison of two different things saying that one is the other. An example would be “love is honey poured over life”. Love is not honey, but the comparison creates a mental image of sweetness added to life.
A simile is the comparison of two different things saying that one is the same or like the other: “Love is like honey poured over life.”
Metaphors and similes are very similar in what they do in writing. Both compare different things.
Remember the nursery rhyme, author unknown:
Twinkle twinkle little star,
How I wonder what you are
Above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
Comparing the star to a diamond is a simile. But that comparison doesn’t show the emotion, does it?
So, let’s think of an emotion. Shame is an emotion that most people have experienced at some point. Now, to what can we compare shame?
Shame is like a dirty, smoothing blanket that clouds our vision. Shame is a monster that robs us of self-esteem. Shame makes us feel tarnished, unworthy, like a statue that has sat in the rain until it fades and fades. Shame wraps us in grey, hiding us from the love of others. That gives us a start for a poem that includes the emotion shame and some ideas for metaphors or similes.
Shame
by Vivian Gilbert Zabel
I am naked before the world,
My flaws and flaws
Exposed for all to see.
Like a sticky, tattooed blanket,
A cloud of despair suffocates me.
Layers of gray with stripes
Of blinding black press me
to the ground, a broken statue,
Tarnished by the relentless rain
And worn by the moaning wind.
I can’t lift my head to look
In case others turn away from me,
Disdain shown in his eyes.
Shame turns trust into
I disgust myself, it burns
like a fire without heat,
Just a chill that leaves no comfort.
How can anyone love me?
When I am disgraced in life
Being who and what I am?
The above poem has two similes and a metaphor. The simile asserts that a cloud of despair, like a worn and tattered blanket, suffocates the narrator. The other says that disgust burns like a fire without heat. The metaphor compares the narrator to a broken statue. All help to strengthen the emotion in the poem, enhancing the feeling of shame. Alliteration is also used: tacky, tattered; blinding black; relentless rain; worn, moaning, wind; disdain shown.
Hopefully we can improve our poetry and add emotion and imagery using metaphors, similes, or both. Let’s try to practice using these in our writing to see how we can create more power in our poems.
