LessonsImplicit and Imaginative Metaphor: Definitions, Core Examples, and AnalysisQuiz

ويسمى إثبات ذلك الأمر المختص بالمشبه به للمشبه استعارة تخييلية
Attributing to the target something peculiar to the source is called imaginative metaphor.

The first act is to picture death as a predator. The second is to affirm of death an attribute characteristic of predators: claws. That attribution yields an image that is not a literal physical observation but conveys the grip and destructive force of death in a vivid way.

In this analysis the hidden comparison and the attribution of the characteristic are distinguishable acts. Working together they form a nonliteral picture without requiring that every visible word be reassigned a new dictionary sense.

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Imaginative metaphor as the assertion of a special attribute

Implicit and Imaginative Metaphor: Definitions, Core Examples, and Analysis

ويسمى إثبات ذلك الأمر المختص بالمشبه به للمشبه استعارة تخييلية
Attributing to the target something peculiar to the source is called imaginative metaphor.

The first act is to picture death as a predator. The second is to affirm of death an attribute characteristic of predators: claws. That attribution yields an image that is not a literal physical observation but conveys the grip and destructive force of death in a vivid way.

In this analysis the hidden comparison and the attribution of the characteristic are distinguishable acts. Working together they form a nonliteral picture without requiring that every visible word be reassigned a new dictionary sense.