BLOG #7: EXTENDED METAPHORS

When a poet maintains a metaphorical comparison throughout the poem, it is called an extended metaphor.  It is a favourite device of mine and I have many of these poems, particularly in relation to the writing process. I will just use two of them to make the point as they are contrasting in their form and imagery and that will demonstrate that the same subject may be approached through very different metaphors. In this case, the subject is the poet’s fear of not being able to produce powerful, creative poetry. The messages are slightly different, despite the similar theme.

Destination Unknown

I’m screaming down the highway. I’m in the danger zone.
Fog is rolling in and I’m feeling quite alone.
No idea what’s coming – what’s hidden round the bend.
Should I hit the brakes, or tramp it? Toss all caution to the wind!

I’m in a foreign country now, my brain feels like it’s burning.
It’s grinding into life; I can hear the cogs start turning.
Thought patterns are running amok  ̶  they’re spinning psychedelic.
I’m in a sixties time warp. Far out! This could be magic.

Should I buckle up, go up a gear, let the ideas have their head,
or do a few three-sixties  ̶  shake the cobwebs out instead?
I’m prepared to take a detour, go off the beaten track.
Will I reach my destination, or be just another writing hack?

There are many poetic devices employed (word play, caesura, anaphora, rhetorical questions, sentence fragments, imperative mood, half-rhyme, rhyme and internal rhyme, exclamations, and colloquialisms), but the dominant feature of this poem is its comparison between a hair-raising drive under rapidly changing conditions and causing the driver stress as she responds to the changing conditions and the writer’s ‘journey’ through the creative processes, and all the stresses and strains and decision-making that entails to keep ontrack to achieve her destination of becoming a poet.

Lost

I’m lost,
scrambling through
a jungle of words
that batter me
like rough branches,
as I try to get
my bearings and
find my way
through the tangled
undergrowth of
old thoughts,
searching for
the life-giving light.
Each step takes me
deeper into dread,
until all I want
is to break out of
this terrifying forest
of failed imagination.

In this case, the metaphor being used throughout the poem is the comparison between being lost in a jungle and scrambling through a forest of tangled words and ideas that make the poet feel just as trapped and vulnerable as being physically lost in a jungle. In both circumstances one is seeking a way out. There is an urgent search for the light to give you your bearings and show you a clear path. You long to escape this feeling of being so vulnerable and you’re desperate to find what you’re searching for. You want the way out of this confusion to be clear and strong, rather than jumbled and obscured like the tangled branches and vines of the jungle. Again, there are many other poetic devices being employed (strong verbs, alliteration, simile, word play), but they all reinforce the central, sustained metaphor.

The titles of both poems play on the metaphor, holding a double meaning that sustains both parts of the comparison. The extended metaphor poems are written in different forms. ‘Destination Unknown’ employs three rhyming quattrains, whereas ‘Lost’ is written in free verse without any formal structure. Notice that each of the forms suits their subject matter. The wild ride of the driving is echoed in the rhyme and the jerky journey that seems to be going nowhere is reflected in the free verse that is not following any particular route from start to finish.

In both poems, the language of the metaphorical comparison is applied consistently to reinforce the varied ways in which the two situations are similar. This language can emphasize similar qualities such as size, shape, sound, texture, movement, or any shared qualities and subject-specific jargon that can demonstrate the aptness of the comparison.