Metaphor

A metaphor is a word you use to describe something else. Not to be confused with a similie which uses "like" or "as".

My love is a rose.
I never really understood this metaphor, but I do remember it from school. Now, this statement I get:

My love is a porcupine.

Why? Because sometimes I'm very prickly, but I have a soft side not known at first.

Okay, give me a break. I'm still recovering from my trip.

Similie:

She's like a bear in the morning.

Why? Is she grumpy? Hairy? Eight feet tall on her hind legs?

Usually you can read more and figure out the context of either the similie or the metaphor.

I love Flatt and Scruggs. But it was called to my attention recently that one of their musical pieces was a metaphor.

Maybe more than one.

Another favorite Bluegrass piece of mine is Fox on the Run. It is a similie as in "She left me to die like a fox on the run."

I've listened to a lot of Bluegrass, and I have to tell you some of the songs are so darn depressing, you wish they would sing in metaphors, so you could pretend nobody died.

Still.

I love the banjo and mandolin.
And please. Don't tell me what the stringed instruments are metaphors for. I shall respond with the words of Freud.
"Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."