Students can learn about how metaphor is used as a language power technique in the standalone module Metaphor, or as a module in Critical Language Awareness: Language Power Techniques and English Grammar. Both are freely available as open educational resources. In addition, a video introducing the concept, a list of key points, and additional resources are available below.

Video

Key points of the module:

What is a metaphor?

• A metaphor is a rhetorical device that enables us to connect two disparate words, concepts or things together such that some sort of transference of qualities or activity takes place from one to the other. The most basic forms of metaphor equate a newer, more abstract idea with something more familiar and concrete, so that the abstract idea can be conceptualized more easily.

What is a metaphor, grammatically speaking? 

• Metaphors can be expressed in many different ways, but perhaps the most basic form is: NOUN – linking verb – NOUN, where the first noun is the subject and the noun following the linking verb is called the subject complement.
• Other parts of speech like adjectives can be used in metaphors as well, for example as attributive adjectives (‘ADJ – NOUN’)  before a noun or with comparative phrases like ‘as – ADJ – as’ or ‘ADJ-er than a’.
• Verbs can be used in metaphors too, along with other parts of speech, in different ways.

How is a metaphor a way to think? 

• Contemporary psychologists and neuroscientists argue that metaphors are not just ornamental devices but actually central to the very way in which our brains process information.
• In conceptual metaphor theory, metaphors relate two objects or concepts that may not be naturally associated. By doing this, they condition us to perceive and experience one thing in terms of another.

What types of metaphors are there? What are their origins?

• Metaphors can be of many types and can be classified based on different parameters – size, depth, and originality.
• In terms of scale, a metaphor can be used either at a very small scale, where it is applied only in the immediate context of use or it can be used at a very large scale, where it can impact a whole culture’s understanding of a phenomenon.
• In terms of depth, a metaphor can be explicitly visible at the surface of the words used to express it or it can be hidden beneath many layers of implied meaning.
• In terms of originality, a metaphor can be conventional, i.e. something that is very common in a language or culture, or it can be innovative, i.e. something that has rarely been used by anyone.

How is metaphor used in advertising and politics? 

• Domains like advertising and politics often use hidden metaphors with an ulterior motive of influencing opinions, behaviors, or worldviews.
• Metaphors are especially powerful when they generate implications that are coherent with a particular ideology. When taken together, these systems of metaphors can be triggered by cognitive framing, the use of a familiar perspective or narrative to make sense of and evaluate new information. Politicians and their media arms are often very good at ‘spinning’ their words and actions into messaging coherent with their ideology through the use of cognitive framing.

Additional Resources

General Resources

TED-Ed (Director). (2012, September 24). The art of the metaphor—Jane Hirshfield. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0edKgL9EgM

• For audio-visual learners, this video presents a great introduction to the concept of metaphors. 

Wilson. (2019). Deep time—What is your metaphor? OER Commons. https://www.oercommons.org/courses/deep-time-what-is-your-metaphor

• Through this lesson created by Wilson (2019), teachers will get good ideas about how to design a lesson where students can evaluate famous metaphors based on the accuracy of the concepts or objects they seek to describe. Such exercises can help students learn how to use metaphors more efficiently.

Metaphors as a way to think 

BBC Ideas (Director). (2020, August 14). How metaphors shape the way you see the world | BBC Ideas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww9V1IA-HwI

• This video does a good job of introducting the idea that metaphors shape the way we perceive reality.  

Gibbs Jr, R. W. (2011). Evaluating conceptual metaphor theory. Discourse processes, 48(8), 529-562.

• This article evaluates the credibility of the evidence that supports conceptual metaphor theory or the idea that metaphors shape our perceptions, thought, and behavior. It reviews studies that show how metaphors influence our thinking about emotions, ideas of self, morality, politics, scientific understanding, illness, law, mathematics and cultural norms. It also responds to criticisms of this theory.

Killick, S., Curry, V., & Myles, P. (2016). The mighty metaphor: A collection of therapists’ favourite metaphors and analogies. The Cognitive Behaviour Therapist, 9.

• This article explores how therapists use metaphors with their patients in cognitive behavioral therapy to help enhance their understanding of their thought patterns as well as to create new patterns of thinking and behavior. 

Types of metaphors and their origins 

WhatHowToWhy.Com (Director). (2017, November 28). What is a Metaphor and its type. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KndgMCeUKVI

• This video provides a good audio-visual explanation of the different types of metaphors in terms of their implicit or explicitness and their newness or oldness. 

Metaphors in advertising and politics 

Antil, A., & Verma, H. V. (2020). Metaphors, communication and effectiveness in Indian politics. Journal of Creative Communications, 15(2), 209-226.

• This research paper explores the use of metaphors by politicians in India to frame their opponents and important issues in a way that makes their perspective more appealing to the Indian public. 

McQuarrie, E. F., & Phillips, B. J. (2005). Indirect persuasion in advertising: How consumers process metaphors presented in pictures and words. Journal of advertising, 34(2), 7-20.

• Using experimental data, the researchers of this study show how metaphorical claims about products make them more persuasive to audiences. They also show that when such metaphors are presented in the form of images rather than words, they become even more persuasive. 

Lammers. (2000). Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” Speech. OER Commons. https://www.oercommons.org/courses/martin-luther-king-jr-s-i-have-a-dream-speech

• In this lesson created by Lammers (2000), readers analyze Dr. Martin Luther King’s famous “I have a dream speech” to understand how he used metaphors to make his message more persuasive. 

Fenko, A., De Vries, R., & Van Rompay, T. (2018). How strong is your coffee? The influence of visual metaphors and textual claims on consumers’ flavor perception and product evaluation. Frontiers in psychology, 9, 53.

• A wonderful study of how visual metaphors in coffee advertisements influence participants perception of the coffee’s flavor and taste. This is one of the most impactful examples of how metaphors can influence both our perception and thinking in a very concrete way. 

Grady, J. (2016). Using metaphor to influence public perceptions and policy: How metaphors can save the world. In The Routledge handbook of metaphor and language (pp. 461-472). Routledge.

• In this article, the author reflects on how metaphors can be used effectively and ethically to help nudge the world towards being more just and egalitarian.