In his work titled Figuring Out Metaphors, John R. Searle questions why do people use metaphors rather than saying what they really mean. He also questions the fact that some metaphors most people would understand and some are more difficult. For example, Sam is a pig: this metaphor probably means that Sam is an untidy person. However, if we said Sally is a prime number between 17 and 23, we would not know what the literal meaning of this metaphor is.
I actually enjoy metaphors. I think it is a more creative way to say what we actually mean. Instead of saying, "Alicia is a young and beautiful girl," I could say "Alicia is the first ray of sunshine on a warm spring morning." Does it not have a better ring to it? Metaphors are just one more figurative language device to add embellishment to literature, even though they can be hard to understand at times.
I concur Alicia, I do feel that metaphors add embellishment to literature.
ReplyDelete