What's your favourite metaphor or simile? Don't worry if you can't remember the difference between metaphor and simile: I can't and it's not a necessary skill for a successful life.
But then, sometimes I'm as thick as two short planks.
That was a metaphor there (or a simile). It's when something is like something else.
As thick as two short planks...
As dry as a bone.
As slippery as an eel.
As daft as a brush.
As strong as an ox.
As clear as mud.
As thick as... you know... that other thing...
Songwriters love a simile (or metaphor) too:
Life is like a slow train crawling up a hill,
Life is a rollercoaster,
Love is like oxygen (too much and you get too high, not enough and you're gonna die).
You can probably name a few more:
You ain't nothin' but a hound dog,
Like a bridge over troubled water I will lay me down,
Like a prayer, like a virgin, like a motorway, like a rolling stone,
You lived your life like a candle in the wind
I'm titanium, you're a firework, so don't go chasing waterfalls...
Metaphors and similes brighten up the song and the day, as sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti.
Then they get out of control (like hair under lockdown)
Hyperbolic like the 80s song that declared:
"You say you're easy on me: you're about as easy as a nuclear war."
Invested like my favourite Del Amitri lyric:
"Like a part-time Elvis imitator, these streets I know so well have been painted beyond recognition with a temporary spell..."
Or just bizarre, like being
"pressed by love's hot fevered iron like a striped pair of pants."
Anyway, bonus points for identifying all the songs above without using a search engine...
What are your favourites? Rappers abound with them, and one or two even make sense. And the Beatles even claimed to be the walrus (tusk, tsk, discuss).
Jesus had a fine line in simile and metaphor, both when he talked about himself:
I am the bread of life
I am the true vine
I am the good shepherd
I am the resurrection and the life
I am the gate for the sheep
A little Old Testament knowledge is in order to get the best out of some of those. Or some good reading round the subject.
And Jesus shows a creative flourish when he told people what the kingdom of God was...
Like a mustard seed
Like yeast
Like a farmer sowing seed
Like treasure in a field
Like a pearl of great price
Like a banquet
Like a very boring sermon going on forever (no he didn't, I made that one up to show just how brilliant Jesus thinks the kingdom is: no duff or dull metaphors for Jesus!).
The whole Bible has some wonderful metaphors for God:
The Lord is my stronghold and my shield (shield means more since we started shielding, don't you think?)
The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer.
God is Father and Mother, shepherd and king
His word is a light to my feet and honey to my lips
I'm particularly fond of Zephaniah 3 where God reckons that he sings over his people, like a momma or a poppa sings over a baby in a cradle. Look it up, it's in 3:17ish...
It's all good, because if (like me) you don't think too easily in the abstract, then these good solid tasty metaphors (and similes) are brilliant for God getting across his ideas. Who hasn't tasted honey? Been relieved by light on a dark path? Who hasn't had a treasure a some point or been transfixed by something like a pearl, and wanted it so much it actually hurts? It's especially brilliant because so often the Kingdom of God and God herself are invisible, so we need good pictures to make them more tangible. There's that wonderful praise song by Chris Tomlin, in which he declares that God is indescribable and then spends four minutes trying to describe God anyway. Irony and praise cohabiting - that's fantastic.
Anyway, all I wanted to ask you today was:
What's your favourite simile (or metaphor) in life?
What's your favourite one in songs?
What's your favourite "I am" comment by Jesus?
What's the most comforting or challenging metaphor (or simile) in the Bible?
Let us know!
No comments:
Post a Comment