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III. Write five similes containing like.

Examples:

It stirs the heart like the sound of a trumpet.
His words fell soft like snow upon the ground.
He came in smiling like a summer morning.

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3.

The sunshine of her manners pleases all. These sentences have much the same meaning. Which of them contains a simile?

In the third sentence we do not say directly that her manners are like sunshine, but we lead our readers to think so; in other words, we imply it. The sunshine of her manners is an implied comparison.

An implied comparison is called a metaphor.

A day when the sun shines may be called a sunny day, but we may also say a sunny face.

The word sweet describes sugar and honey, but we all know what is meant by a sweet child.

The words sunny and sweet, as they are first used in the sentences above, have their literal sense; as they are next used, they have their figurative sense.

A word is used in a literal sense when it has its simplest and most natural meaning. A word has a figurative sense when it is used to carry its idea to an object to which it does not naturally belong.

We use metaphors in everyday speech. If a teacher

says, "John, you have recited very well, you may go to the head of the class," she uses a metaphor. She means that John may go to that place in the class which is the same to the rest of the class as the head is to the rest of the body.

A metaphor is said to be explained when its meaning is made clear, and the way is pointed out in which its figurative sense is derived from its literal sense. The metaphor in the sentence, "John, you may go to the head of the class," has just been explained.

Exercises.

I. Explain the following metaphors : —

1. John is at the foot of the class. 2. I have found the root of the trouble. 3. This is the ground of my complaint. 4. Laura, you are a jewel. 5. The metaphor is the gem of figures. 6. You see the fruit of your patient efforts. 7. There is no cloak for your sins. 8. He is the spring of all our joys. 9. Kindness is the golden chain by which society is bound together. 10. Kindness is the music of good will to men, and on this harp the smallest fingers may play.

II. Tell in which of the following expressions the adjective has a literal, and in which a figurative, use:1. A hard rock. A hard lesson. A hard winter. 2. A bitter pill.

experience.

A bitter disappointment. A bitter

3. A tender plant. A tender heart. A tender expression. 4. A heavy responsibility. A heavy weight. A heavy style.

5. A dull boy. A dull knife, A dull day.

6. A smooth story. A smooth rogue. A smooth piece

of ice.

7. A burning shame. A burning coal. A burning blush.

Faded Metaphors.

Metaphors so common that we do not regard them as unusual expressions are sometimes called "faded metaphors." Some of the examples below are of faded metaphors.

We talk of right conduct, of fair dealing, of a town's being stormed, of a flow of words, of the light of nature, of plucking from the memory a rooted sorrow, of a torrent of passion, of speaking eyes, of the standing of a pupil in his class, etc.; and all these are metaphors. Explain them.

Find ten metaphors in your reading lesson.

Mixed Metaphors.

She came steaming into the room, full sail, like a whirlwind.

Here the movement is compared to a steamboat, a sailing vessel, and a whirlwind, all in the same sentence.

Metaphors are said to be mixed when differing metaphors are combined in the same sentence. A sentence which contains mixed metaphors is neither clear nor forcible, and should be carefully avoided.

Tell wherein the following figures are faulty, and improve them :

1. To take arms against a sea of troubles.

2. Her cheerful disposition, the jewel of her character, was the chain which bound the family together.

3. These are the first fruits of my long study, at last unearthed and brought to light.

4. Wild fancies gamboled unbridled through his brain, and swept away all his firm resolves.

5. Idleness is the rust of the soul and the moth of destruction.

6. The love of money, the root of all evil, lays a snare for the feet of man.

XXVII. FIGURATIVE AND COMMONPLACE STATEMENTS.

The thirsty earth absorbed the gentle shower, the flowers raised their drooping heads, and all nature seemed to rejoice in this timely bounty of heaven, but the streets were muddy.

The commonplace clause at the end of this sentence is in strange and unpleasant contrast with the figurative language that precedes.

The beauty of figurative language must not be spoiled by the addition of a commonplace statement.

Exercise.

Tell wherein the following sentences are faulty:

1. The stained-glass window admits a light upon the pulpit as soft and mellow as moonlight, and it cost $300. 2. How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank, and how dry the grass looks.

3. He was a Napoleon in battle, and he was thirty years old.

4. Concerts and lectures, like poetry and periodicals, tend to relieve the mind and instruct it, and Mr. Shaw will deliver his illustrated lecture next Wednesday evening.

5. Calamities came upon him like the inundations of the Nile; but they only strengthened his fixed determination to do right whatever might happen, and he now began to learn stenography.

XXVIII. CONTRAST.

By contrast we perceive things more clearly, as when a white surface is put beside a black, or a red beside a blue. It is, therefore, a most useful aid to composition. Here are some examples of words showing contrast in meaning:

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1. Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my hand and my heart to this vote. WEBSTER.

2. He hath cooled my friends and heated mine enemies. 3. We see more of the world by travel, more of human nature by remaining at home.

4. If his jests are coarse, his arguments are strong.

5. Goldsmith has the art of being minute without tediousness, and general without confusion; his language is copious without exuberance, exact without restraint, and easy without weakness.

6. He was too judicious to commit faults, but not sufficiently vigorous to attain excellence.

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