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The Importance of Metaphors in Poetry

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The Importance of Metaphors in Poetry
It is important to have metaphors in poetry because the reader can then see what the poet means and feels. A metaphor is a comparison between two unlike things that have something in common. A metaphor helps the writer create a verbal picture that helps the reader to see ideas more clearly. It helps the writer convey his or feeling more strongly. Typically, a metaphor asserts that one thing is another or suggests that the one acts like the other in some way.

In the poem, Swan Song, the author calls the mast of the gillnetter a "crazy metronome cutting the air." A metronome helps a musician keep exact tempo by the clicking metal arm that moves back and forth. This helps the reader see how the gillnetter looks in the water. The title of the poem supports the idea of a repeated metaphor related to music. A swan is known to sing just before it dies. It is also been said that a swan song is the farewell appearance of a performer who is retiring. The man on the rock can be seen and understood as the audience, watching the two fisherman perform their last farewell.

A metaphor has the power to call up impressive visual images. In the poem, T-Bar, the poet describes the mountain scene by calling it "haemophilic snow." A haemophilic is a person who bleeds easy causing them to look pale or white. So the reader now gets a visual picture of what the mountain looks like. The poet describes the skiers that are riding up the t-bar to
"Somnambulists." A Somnambulist is a sleepwalker. The poet illustrates the skiers as a bride and groom. He does this so we verbally see what that would look like.

A metaphor has the power to stir feelings. The Ice-Floes is another poem where the author uses metaphor. He describes the seal hunters racing across the ice after the baby seals as travelling with "the speed of hounds on a caribou's track" By doing this it adds to the intensity of the situation or to engage our emotions. The author illustrates "the night had swallowed

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