METAPHOR
A poetic metaphor is the union of unlike things (pictures to ideas, ideas
to feelings, feelings to objects, objects to pictures...) such that the
mind discovers unexpected relationships and comes upon insight. What
makes metaphor work is what might be called the unlike factor
between the two things being compared. So the metaphor's dynamics operate
as follows: my luve (X) + a red, red rose (Y) = a set of
new meanings that are not specifically spelled out, a relationship to be
discovered by the reader.
- John Briggs and Richard Monaco, METAPHOR: THE LOGIC OF POETRY (New
York, 1990).
Rainer Maria Rilke
Context | Lyric