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Mono- and Polyrelated Similes
This kind of structural opposition of similes is based on the number of the ROs participating in the comparison. Accordingly, in monorelated similes, the TO is characterized via its comparison with only one RO while in polyrelated similes the number of ROs increases resulting in multiple emphasis of the feature, the author focuses on. It should be noted that the degree of expressiveness of polyrelated similes depends upon the number of the ROs: The more their number in the simile is, the more expressive and dynamic the simile becomes. In the textual fragment below from Galsworthy’s In Chancery (1974), the author depicts in a most expressive way the feeling of relief mingled with shame and anger, Soames experiences after he has divorced Irene and decided to marry Annette. In order to emphasise the need of rest and peace of mind that Soames lacks, the author uses a prolonged simile, introducing into the text one by one heterogeneous objects of wide range by comparison with which the vital importance of rest and peace of mind is metaphorically stated.
Similes With an Extended Motivation
Extension of a motivation in similes is partly conditioned by such addressee-orientated factors as the transparency and expressiveness of an utterance. It has already been mentioned, that we view similes via intersubjectivity according to which the speaker/the author not only focuses on the metaphorical mapping of the world in similes but, while doing it, he/she takes into account the factor of the addressee. Accordingly, in cases when the degree of the associative metaphorical vision of the TO is rather unexpected and subjective the author finds it necessary to expand and explain in details the features that serve as a motivation for such a poetical characterization of the subject matter. The research has enabled us to differentiate similes with an extended motivation into three subtypes: (1) similes with a detached motivation, (2) similes with a detached allusive motivation, and (3) frame-structured similes. In the first subtype of similes with an extanded motivation, the author considers it necessary to extend the motivation of the comparison and single it out in a detached structure in order to ensure the transparency of the aesthetic message conveyed in the simile.
Example: Cora Jenkins was one of the least of the citizens of Melton. She was what people referred to when they wanted to be polite, as a Negress. She had been in Melton for forty years. Born there. Would die there probably. She worked for the Studevants, who treated her like a dog. She stood it. Had to stand it: Cora was like a tree—once rooted, she stood, in spite of storms and strife, wind and rocks, in the earth. This microtext is devoted to Cora Jenkins, the main character of the story. From the very beginning, the author depicts her character sketch in a most impressive way employing different lexical and syntactical strategies which embody both Cora’s direct, i.e., objective, and metaphorical associative characterization. While doing it, the author uses two similes. We consider the first of them (they treated her like a dog) to be trite. Being a commonly reproduced lexical unit, it does not represent any difficulties for the perception. Hence, any reader can make correct inferences concerning the humiliation Cora had to endure. Yet she stood it because, according to the author’s subjective evaluative vision, she was like a tree. The similarity between these two heterogeneous objects brought together is metaphorically explicated in a detached construction—once rooted, she stood, in spite of storms and strife, wind and rocks, in the earth—emphasizing such features of Cora as her vitality, adaptability and endurance. The second subtype of similes with an extended motivation is based on an allusive comparison. In order to characterize the TO, the author brings it against some heterogeneous object or event from mythology, the Bible, folklore, or literary sources, emphasizing the feature that stands for the motivation for such comparison. The full impact of an allusion and the idea it is employed to suggest, depends upon the cultural background knowledge of the reader which enables them to penetrate deeper into the subtleties of the aesthetic message encoded in the simile by the author. The knowledge and experience stored in our minds being different, the author finds it necessary to extend the allusive motivation in a detached form, thus creating a new image of the subject matter via his associative vision of the world.
Example: There is nothing women love so much as the drunkard, the hellion, the roarer, the reprobate. They love him because, they—women, I mean are like the bees in Samson’s parable in the bible. They like to build their honeycomb in the carcass of a dead lion.
Out of the strong shall come forth sweetness.
In this textual segment, the author metaphorically characterizes women who love rough and reprobate men only, because they expect ardent love and acute pleasure and emotions from them. On the basis of this feature of women, i.e., their passion and craving for such men, the author associates them with the bees in Samson’s parable that liked building their honeycomb in the carcass of a dead lion.
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Black, M. (1962). Models and metaphors: Studies in language and philosophy. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.
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