Metaphor

==Metaphoric language is FIGURATIVE, or that which is not to be taken literally. Poets use metaphor for a variety of reasons, but primarily to compare something we may not know to something we do, in order to help us see or understand the unknown thing better. A good poet also knows that metaphor enriches the poem, making it more thoughtful and artful. It can also intensify our emotional response to the poem.==


 * (Hints: "Leaden sieves" are something gray above us that are sifting something. "Wood" means a forest. "Alabaster" refers to the color white.)**

To the little boy, the football player loomed __like__ a giant on a beanstalk.
== Here is a very well-known poem by American Langston Hughes (1902 - 1967). Notice that the poem is a list of similes, until the final line, which is a general metaphor. This poem was controversial when it was published due to the violence that final line seems to threaten. ==

= Water to Sky =

Here is another poem that uses a metaphoric conceit (or framework):
= =