What does “Strained Metaphor” Mean?
What does the term "strained metaphor" mean, and how is it typically used in literature or everyday language? Could you provide examples to help illustrate its meaning?
2 Answers
A metaphor is a literary device wherein symbolism is used for description.
ie: “But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.”
Romeo realizes that Juliet is not really the sun, nor is she emitting light. He’s using symbolism to compare her beauty to that of a sunrise.
A metaphor becomes “strained” if the author takes it too far, overusing the same metaphor too much or using symbolism that does not really represent the themes that he is trying to compare.
Compare Romeo’s use of metaphor to express his love to that of Navin Johnson, the title character of the Steve Martin comedy “The Jerk”.
“I know we’ve only known each other four weeks and three days, but to me it seems like nine weeks and five days. The first day seemed like a week and the second day seemed like five days. And the third day seemed like a week again and the fourth day seemed like eight days. And the fifth day you went to see your mother and that seemed just like a day, and then you came back and later on the sixth day, in the evening, when we saw each other, that started seeming like two days, so in the evening it seemed like two days spilling over into the next day and that started seeming like four days, so at the end of the sixth day on into the seventh day, it seemed like a total of five days. And the sixth day seemed like a week and a half. I have it written down, but I can show it to you tomorrow if you want to see it.”
Technically, this is a simile rather than a metaphor, but it illustrates the point. The symbolism is horribly strained.
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