The lexical emotive means and stylistic devices

Different Types of Metaphors

Let’s rewind to the definition of a metaphor as a figure of speech. Another example is that catchy tune, “You are my sunshine.” Although you aren’t literally a ray of light, you probably have a similarly uplifting effect on the speaker.

But the definition of metaphor is actually broader than that. Often, metaphor is used loosely to mean any kind of symbolism. In literature, there are are many other types of metaphors, too: implied, sustained, dead, and others.

1. Implied Metaphor

Implied metaphor departs from the “thing A is thing B” formula and allows you to make a more sophisticated and subtle type of comparison through—you guessed it—implication.

Take these two sentences:

Jordan got his courtship cues from the peacock. In a room full of ladies, Jordan simply fans his feathers.

In both sentences, we are comparing Jordan to a peacock. In the first sentence, the comparison is overt: the peacock is mentioned directly. But in the second sentence, we imply that Jordan is the peacock by comparing his behavior (fanning his feathers) to something peacocks are known for doing. That isn’t meant to suggest that Jordan actually has feathers, but that he is behaving in a showy and flirty way to catch the attention of the ladies.

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