Figurative meaning may lie in the transferred sense of an individual word, or it may concern an entire combination or attribution. The unit of analysis matters.
This section chiefly examines word-level majāz: a noun or a derived expression is employed in a transferred sense. “The situation spoke” can be examined for the transferred meaning of “speaking.”
By contrast, an expression such as “spring made the earth laugh” can invite a separate inquiry into the attribution of an act. Figurative word meaning and figurative predication must not be conflated.