Difference between Metaphor and Simile. If we say of a great statesman, "He upholds the state, like the pillar which upholds an edifice," we make the comparison by a Simile. If we say of him, "He is the pillar of the state," we make the same comparison by a Metaphor. In simile, the comparison is usually expressed by like, as, such as, or words of similar import. In metaphor, the comparison, if made at all, is not formally expressed in words. One object is assumed to be so like another, that things properly belonging to the one are attributed to the other, without stopping to draw a formal comparison between them - without, in fact, stopping to think whether such a likeness exists or not. If the metaphor expresses, or even suggests comparison, that metaphor is faulty. Not that a metaphor may not be taken to pieces, and be shown to owe its existence to comparison; but it should not, at first sight, suggest comparison. The figure should be so involved in the subject that you can hardly pull the two apart. In simile, on the contrary, the subject and the figure are but Siamese twins: a whip of the knife, and the two are divided, without damage to either.

Effectiveness of Metaphor. The metaphor is a more lively and animated method than the simile for expressing comparison. Metaphor, indeed, of all the figures, comes nearest to painting, enabling us to clothe at will the most abstract ideas with life, form, color, and motion, and to " give to airy nothing a local habitation and a name." A few examples will show how much more condensed and effective the metaphor is than the simile.

Simile: As it is a flattering condescension when the eye of a sovereign rests upon a subject, so it is when the light of the morning sun first falls upon the mountaintops. As an image of burnished gold, when brought within kissing distance any dull objects, lights them up with its own shining radiance, making them also look like gold, so the morning rays of the sun, after first touching the mountain-tops, descend gradually to the valleys, lighting up the green meadows and the pale streams, as with some heavenly gilding.

Metaphor:

Full many a glorious morning have I seen
Flatter the mountain-top with sovran eye,
Kissing with golden face the meadows green,

Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy. — Shakspeare.

Simile: As, in passing through a prism, beams of white light are decomposed Into the colors of the rainbow; so, in traversing the soul of the poet, the colorless rays of truth are transformed into bright-tinted poetry.

Metaphor: The white light of truth, in traversing the many-sided transparent soul of the poet, is refracted into iris-hued poetry. - Herbert Spencer.

Simile: The temper of the nation, loaded already with grievances, was like a vessel that is now full, and this additional provocation, like the last drop infused, made their rage and resentment as waters of bitterness overflow.

Metaphor: The vessel was now full, and this last drop made the waters of bitterness overflow. - Bolingbroke.

Rules for Simile and for Metaphor. The rules which have been given in regard to the Simile apply in some measure to the Metaphor also. Metaphors ordinarily should not be drawn from things having too near and obvious a resemblance, from things in which the likeness is too faint or remote, from things with which ordinary readers are unacquainted, from objects mean and low, or from objects too far above that which they are intended to illustrate. Metaphors, however, are often used for the expression of strong passion, and in this respect differ materially from similes. Metaphor, being an abbreviated simile, suits very well the rapid vehemence of passion.

Examples of this abound in Shakspeare. No portions of his plays so teem with metaphor as those most highly tragical. The Bastard in King John, seeing Hubert take up the body of the murdered Prince, exclaims,

How easy dost thou take all England up!

When the assassin discloses to the Prince the red-hot iron, and declares that he has come to burn out the Prince's eyes therewith, Arthur begs him not to be more cruel than even the instrument of torture:

The iron of itself, though heat red-hot,

Approaching near these eyes, would drink my tears,
And quench his fiery indignation

Even in the matter of mine innocence.

As the rules relating especially to the Simile illustrate to some extent the Metaphor, so also the rules relating especially to the Metaphor illustrate to some extent the use of the Simile. The rules which more particularly limit the use of the Metaphor are the following:

RULE 1. The metaphorical and the literal should not be mixed in the same sentence.

Rule Explained. A metaphor having been introduced into a sentence, all parts of the sentence should be made to conform to the figure thus introduced. This rule is violated when part of the words are such as apply to the figure, and part are plain and literal.

Examples.-Dryden says, speaking of the aids he had had in some of his literary labors, "I was sailing in a vast ocean [metaphor], without other help than the pole-star [metaphor continued] of the ancients, and the rules of the French stage [lit. eral] among the moderns,"

In Pope's translation of Homer, Penelope, speaking of the loss of her husband, and then of the abrupt departure of her son, says:

Long to my joys my dearest lord is lost,

His country's buckler, and the Grecian boast;
Now, from my fond embrace by tempests torn,
Our other column [met.] of the state is borne,
Nor took a kind adieu, nor sought consent.

Here her son is figured in one line as a column, and in the next he is a person, to whom it belongs to take adieu, and to ask consent. This is incongruous. It is mixing up the metaphorical and the literal in the same construction. Having spoken of Telemachus under the metaphor of a column, the author should not have ascribed to him in that sentence anything but what could be ascribed to a column. "Boyle was the father of Chemistry, and brother to the Earl of Cork."

To thee the world its present homage pays,

The harvest [met.] early, but mature [met.] the praise [lit.].

The fault here is not serious. Yet every reader feels that but for the sake of a rhyme, the second line would have ended "mature the crop."

Examples of Correct Metaphor. The following are examples of sentences in which the language of the metaphor is sustained and consistent throughout:

Speaking of the king's honor: "The feather that adorns the royal bird supports his flight. Strip him of his plumage, and you fix him to the earth.” — Junius.

"In the shipwreck of the state, trifles float and are preserved; while everything solid and valuable sinks to the bottom, and is lost forever." — Junius.

Of a hero: "In peace, thou art the gale of spring; in war, the mountain storm."— Ossian.

Of a woman: "She was covered with the light of beauty; but her heart was the bearer of pride."— Ossian.

"Trothal went forth with the stream of his people, but they met a rock: for Fingal stood unmoved; broken, they rolled back from his side."- Ossian.

Speaking of an artist:

"You make him but the spigot of a cask,

Round which you, teachers, wait with silver cups

To bear away the wine that leaves it dry."- Holland's Kathrina.

RULE 2. Two different metaphors should not be used in the same sentence and in reference to the same subject.

This produces what is called mixed metaphor, and is a worse fault even than mixing the metaphorical and the literal in the same sen

tence.

Examples.-Shakspeare's expression, "To take arms against a sea of troubles," is open to criticism on this ground. Addison says:

"I bridle in my struggling muse with pain,
That longs to launch into a bolder strain."

The muse, figured as a horse, may be "bridled;" but when we speak of "launching," we make it a ship. The author bridles it to keep it from launching!

In religious discourse people are apt to use Scripture metaphors in a careless way. The following curious jumble once took place: A man prayed that "the word which had been preached might be like a nail driven in a sure place, sending its roots downward and its branches upward, spreading itself like a green bay-tree, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners!"

Observe the mixing of metaphors in the following passages: "The shot of the enemy mowed down our ranks with frightful rapidity. On every hand men and horses lay in universal carnage, like scattered wrecks on a storm-beaten shore." "His thoughts soared up from earth like fire and winged their flight to distant stars."

"Traitors may talk of England going down

(In quicksands that their coward selves have sown)—
She swims in hearts like these!"- Gerald Massey.

Here, in three short lines, we have bad grammar (" England going down"; it should be "England's going down"), bad rhyme ("down" and "sown"), bad metaphors (England swimming in hearts! and sowing "quicksands "-he might as well have talked of sowing batter-pudding!) and lastly, very commonplace thought as the basis of the whole.

RULE 3. Metaphors on the same subject should not be crowded together in rapid succession.

Explanation. — Though the figure in each case may be distinct and consistently carried out, yet the mind, having in quick succession to conceive the subject, first in its literal sense, then in a figurative sense, and then again in still another figure, becomes confused.

Example.-Swift says, "Those whose minds are dull and heavy do not easily penetrate into the folds and intricacies of an affair, and therefore can only scum off what they find at the top." Here the mind has, first, to think of the literal fact, namely, that dull people do not easily penetrate the difficulties of a subject; next, to think of this fact under the similitude of handling the outer folds of a bale of cloth, without ever getting at the inside; and then again to think of the same fact under the similitude of skimming the top of some impure liquid without reaching the bottom. The two metaphors, though separable, are in such close succession that they have the effect of a mixed metaphor.

RULE 4. Metaphors should not be multiplied to excess.

Explanation. Though the metaphors may refer to different subjects, and be in different sentences, and therefore not come within either of the two preceding rules, yet if they are greatly multiplied, they have a confusing effect upon the mind. The variety of subjects

distracts the attention.

Excessive Use of Figures. The effect of unduly multiplying metaphors is very much like that produced by being over-dressed. This is true, not of metaphor merely, but of every kind of figure. Figures, whether for ornament or for illustration, to have their proper effect, must be used with moderation. Really good metaphors, occurring only here and there, at judicious intervals, and on suitable subjects, have a brilliant effect. But if multiplied too much, no matter how sparkling each may be in itself, they produce only a disagreeable glitter.

RULE 5. Metaphors should not be carried too far.

This fault is committed when the resemblance on which the metaphor is founded is carried out into a great many minute and irrelevant circumstances. This is called straining the metaphor.

Example. -Young says of old age, that it should

Walk thoughtful on the silent, solemn shore

Of that vast ocean it must sail so soon;

And put good works on board; and wait the wind
That shortly blows us into worlds unknown.

The expression in the first two lines is universally admired. But when the author begins to "put good works on board," and to "wait the wind," the metaphor becomes strained and loses dignity. Instead of the deep emotion excited by walking "thoughtful on the silent, solemn shore," the mind is brought down to the prosaic and calculating operations of a seafaring enterprise.

III. ALLEGORY.

An Allegory is a description of one thing under the image of another; it is a sort of continued Metaphor.

Difference between Allegory and Metaphor. Allegory differs from a Metaphor in two respects. First, it is carried out into a great variety of particulars, making usually a complete and connected story. Secondly, it suppresses all mention of the principal subject, leaving us to infer the writer's intention from the resemblance of the narrative, or of the description to the principal subject.

Points in Common. - Allegory, Metaphor, and Simile have this in common, that they are all founded in resemblance, there being in each case two subjects, a primary and a secondary, having certain points of likeness. In Simile, this resemblance is expressed in form, as when it is said, "Israel is like a vine, brought from Egypt, and