Nov. 29: Metaphorical Thinking

In today's reading the author; Fred White talks about how metaphors help us transform abstract concepts into concrete representations that stick in our minds. He also states that poetry is largely metaphorical thinking. He also talks about how "we gain insight into the nature of things by comparing them with other things."
FOR FURTHER REFLECTION:
In this segment White states that "A good poet will startle us with metaphors that are at once highly unusual and weirdly fitting." He goes on to give an example but the example that came to my mind was Blake's "Tiger, tiger burning bright like the fire in the night, whose mighty hands forge thee." In this poem the poet uses metaphorical terms connected with a blast furnace and a blacksmith's forging of an instrument, tool, or weapon.
The "TRY THIS" assignment:
Spend a few days getting into the habit of thinking in metaphors. Use your journal to describe objects metaphorically. What do the icicles lining your eaves remind you of? Dragon teeth? The interior of a cave? The entrance of a troll's den? Here a few objects that should lend themselve to metaphoric description:

• oil well pumps
• dozens of sunbathers on a beach
• church bells
• lightning
• vegetables, fruits, tubers (bell peppers, melons, squash, ginger root)

Oil well pumps - some strange form of dinosaurs

Sunbathers on a beach - beached whales

Those are the only ones I could come up with in short notice. However, I do remember some from my days of trying to write hiaku poetry.

• white ducks on a pond looking like marshmallows in a cup of cocoa
• cat with toy mouse reminding one of a cheetah pouncing on a gazelle
• pair of buzzards soaring together like a wedding couple in their first dance