A metaphor is a powerful figure of speech that helps us understand one thing by comparing it to something else, without using “like” or “as.” It directly states that one thing is another, creating a vivid image or idea in the reader’s mind by making an implicit comparison between two unlike things that share common characteristics.
This article defines metaphors in more detail, provides 80 examples from modern, 20th century, 19th century, and pre-19th century literature, lists common metaphors, and offers tips for using them in your writing.
What Is a Metaphor?
A metaphor is a literary device that makes an implicit comparison between two unrelated things that share common characteristics. Unlike a simile, which uses “like” or “as” (e.g., “brave as a lion”), a metaphor states that one thing is another (e.g., “He is a lion in battle”), creating a stronger, more imaginative connection.
Metaphors are essential in language and literature. They can:
- Add vividness and imagery
- Convey complex ideas concisely
- Evoke emotion
- Provide new perspectives
- Enhance persuasion
Metaphor Example Sentences From Modern Literature
- “Her voice is full of money”—The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
- “The road goes ever on and on”—The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
- “Hope is the only thing stronger than fear”—The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
- “The world is not a wish-granting factory”—The Fault in Our Stars, John Green
- “Marriage is a series of traps”—Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn
- “Her past was a dark forest”—The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
- “The world is a zoo”—Life of Pi, Yann Martel
- “The desert is a grand, eternal teacher”—The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
- “The world was a cold, dead place”—The Road, Cormac McCarthy
- “Marsh is a sanctuary”—Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens
- “My name is a song”—Circe, Madeline Miller
- “Every life is a book of stories”—The Midnight Library, Matt Haig
- “Her life was a carefully constructed lie”—The Vanishing Half, Brit Bennett
- “Their conversation was a dance”—Normal People, Sally Rooney
- “Life is a game of pachinko”—Pachinko, Min Jin Lee
Examples of Metaphors From 20th Century Literature
- “The dawn came, but no day”—The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
- “The sea was his mistress”—The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway
- “April is the cruellest month”—The Waste Land, T.S. Eliot
- “The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places”—A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway
- “Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board”—Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
- “Life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”—The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner
- “I was a bell jar”—The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath
- “A gramme is better than a damn”—Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
- “The island was a paradise”—Lord of the Flies, William Golding
- “War is a game of chess”—Catch-22, Joseph Heller
- “Time is a river”—One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
- “Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time”—Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut
- “I am an invisible man”—Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
- “The sun was a hammer”—The Stranger, Albert Camus
- “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”—Animal Farm, George Orwell
- “The earth is an orange”—The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway
Metaphor Examples From 19th Century Literature
- “The whale is a wall”—Moby Dick, Herman Melville
- “Conscience is a safe”—Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
- “London was a brick-and-mortar labyrinth”—Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
- “The human heart is a sea”—Les Misérables, Victor Hugo
- “The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread”—The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
- “The world is a vampire”—Dracula, Bram Stoker
- “The river was a living thing”—The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain
- “Life, what is it but a dream?”—Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
- “He was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone”—A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
- “The soul is a terrible reality”—The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
- “Poverty is a crime”—Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky
- “I am large, I contain multitudes”—Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman
- “Marriage is a voyage”—Middlemarch, George Eliot
- “The truth is rarely pure and never simple”—The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde
- “The world is a blighted fruit”—Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
Metaphor Examples Sentences From Pre-19th Century Literature
- “Juliet is the sun”—Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare
- “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players”—Hamlet, William Shakespeare
- “Life’s but a walking shadow”—Macbeth, William Shakespeare
- “Iago is a spider”—Othello, William Shakespeare
- “The course of true love never did run smooth”—A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare
- “The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven”—Paradise Lost, John Milton
- “Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself within a forest dark, for the straightforward pathway had been lost”—The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri
- “His words were a shower of arrows”—The Odyssey, Homer
- “The sea was a whale-road”—Beowulf
- “He was a knight of the sorrowful countenance”—Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes
- “Fame is a monster”—The Aeneid, Virgil
- “The cave is our world”—The Republic, Plato
- “War is a disease”—Lysistrata, Aristophanes
- “Our life is what our thoughts make it”—Meditations, Marcus Aurelius
- “Water is the best weapon”—The Art of War, Sun Tzu
- “The lion and the fox”—The Prince, Niccolò Machiavelli
- “Man is a Yahoo”—Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift
- “The island was my kingdom”—Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe
- “The Slough of Despond”—Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan
Most Common Metaphors
These common metaphors are frequently used to describe experiences, emotions, and concepts in everyday speech.
- Time is money.
- The world is a stage.
- Life is a journey.
- Love is a battlefield.
- He has a heart of gold.
- She is a shining star.
- The classroom was a zoo.
- My brother is a couch potato.
- He is a night owl.
- She is an early bird.
- The city is a concrete jungle.
- His words were daggers.
- Her smile was sunshine.
- The news was a punch to the gut.
- He is a walking encyclopedia.
- The internet is an information highway.
- The assignment was a breeze.
- He is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
- The calm before the storm.
- Her voice is music to my ears.
Tips For Including a Metaphor in a Sentence
Using metaphors effectively can elevate your writing from ordinary to extraordinary. Here are a few tips to help you craft powerful and memorable metaphors in your own sentences.
- Make it original and fresh: While common metaphors are useful, truly impactful metaphors often come from unexpected comparisons. Try to think beyond the obvious and forge new connections that will surprise and delight your reader. Avoid clichés where possible.
- Ensure the comparison makes sense: The two things you are comparing should have a logical, even if abstract, connection. The audience should be able to understand why you are comparing them, even if the comparison isn’t literal. The metaphor should illuminate, not confuse.
- Keep it concise: Powerful metaphors are often short and to the point. Avoid over-explaining your metaphor; let the comparison speak for itself. The beauty of a metaphor lies in its ability to convey a lot with a few well-chosen words.
- Consider your audience and purpose: The complexity and type of metaphor you use should be appropriate for your audience and the overall tone of your writing. A playful metaphor might work well in a lighthearted story, while a more profound one would suit a serious essay.