Korean Job Discussion Forums

[meangradin]

I have always had a bit of a problem with the two, so I thought I would turn to my fellow teachers for some help.

"The snow is a blanket over the ground" (metaphor)
"The snow is like a blanket over the ground" (simile)

But why is, "The snow blanketed the ground" a simile?

Also, in terms of figurative language, what is this: "the walls of my mind"

Thank you your help

[kimchi story]

Style being what it is, someone may disagree with me here, but I don't think "the snow blanketed the ground" is a simile at all. It's nice figurative language, and it's a compelling use of imagery. But it's not a simile.


"The walls of my mind" is imagery. Metaphorical imagery, perhaps. Symbolic imagery, I suppose.

[meangradin]

Kimchi Story, thank you for the reply.

According to the website I was on, "The snow blanketed the ground" is a simile because it is simply restating that it is "like a blanket over the ground." However, to me, it appears to be restating the metaphor, not the simile, in that it is saying that the snow is a blanket over the ground. Hence the reason for my confusion.

[kimchi story]

I see the confusion. I had a prof once who would scoff and say "They're all metaphors!" when asked to clarify subtle differences like the one you have described.

The reason they offered for describing it as a simile is fair enough, but a simile is an explicit comparison so the default in an ambiguous example like this is, in my mind, metaphor.

If you want a suggestion, Duke University's OWL online is good, and the University of Victoria has a site called manythings.org that is pretty comprehensive.

Neither site is as much fun as the cafe here, tho...

[meangradin]

Thanks again for the reply. On a side note, I just read your post about suicide. I sincerely hope you are feeling alright. If you need to talk to someone, drop me a personal message and we can arrange to talk.

[kimchi story]

Hey thanks. I'm a little embarassed by the responses - I meant to share some thoughts on the way others might be feeling but it seems to come across as a message from someone caught in an abnormal funk. Mine are actually pretty status quo.

The point I was trying to emphasize is that I think Dave's is a pretty valuable institution for expat teachers. The responses that came up totally confirm that. I'm impressed by that, and I hope the trend continues.

I appreciate your concern, and the offer is totally reciprocated.

[Meggiebea]

The biggest difference between a metaphor and a simile is that similes usually have the words 'like' or 'as' and are therefore a comparison between two things. Metaphors are when you state one this is another.

In your example " the snow blanketed the ground' the snow is not said to be a blanket.