Show The Treacherous Metaphor I i A metaphor is always what Its I rht 1 name Implies a transfer of atten I Uon from one thing to another Therefore It is always an InUrruiv > Uon to the thought and In that fait llts the danger of the use of it Of course the same remark is slit more applicable thcimllc These are worse than tupvilluilifswhca not productive oneof the following i I follow-ing resultK They may servo for I resting places So old Homer used them his simllei being few in the portions cf varied narrative and many times more numerous where combat follow tombat with Lut Blight diversity As Lowell sayp A metaphor Is no argument comparing Wordsvrorth in certain cer-tain moods to a man ° diligently Intent on producitg fire by the primitive method of rubbing tliedry I sticks of his blank verse one against thc other while we stand in shivering shiver-ing expectation of the flame that never comas Metaphors may teach may express the thought more delicately and accurately than I nn unornaiuintcd sentence possibly I could as when Umireon raid If thought I It form sentiment Is color or as in Jlawcii famous deliverance deliver-ance Humor is the electric atmosphere atmos-phere wit is the flash At wlmt I over cost of mental anguish then let us heroically expunge all metaphors meta-phors and similes hlch do not odd I to or illustrate the thought and which are not needed to enliven the composition We shall soon learn from sad experience to itle f sympathize with George Eliot lamentation that we can so seldom sel-dom declare what a tiling I U except ly eaylng it Is something ilse And we also before bad held with Dogberry that comparisons ate odorous with Helicon fragiance shall begin to hold them were on Taro cccasiony tnlloua InJroJ Rrtlrrnrn in the use of these literary ornaments will save us from theQuetm AuecptLigu style of writing the autliorof whl hIs h-Is evidently less concerned with the domicile than with its bedizening It will also sae us from the ludicrous I meshes of the double metaphor or from such chimeralike fantasies as lie was a lion in bravery a bulldog I bull-dog In determinationa fox In craft and snake in rancor There are few writers who would not be immense I im-mense gainers by the careful reading I read-ing of Use works of a single author such as Lowell making I mak-ing a critical study of the metaphors and simile thrlr purpose pur-pose In each place and the secret of their felicity We would find Ihat though no portion of the authors labor requires and exhibits to wide and varied a knowledge this yet the most effective metaphors acd similes are the simplest Broad seeing Is needed for the choke of them but for their presentation a vision clear and direct The excursions excur-sions must be deftly managed if they are not to blur our Impression of the mail Journey For the author ns well ns for the preacher Btuhaell ouce laid tlown Ibe true Ifplti laidwh henaid gospel when he Slid U tile Preacher bas really something strong enough to say to call In angels an-gels of imagery that iwcHn trengtl Is no to help him to say it there kind of symbol observed by him in heavenalove or in eartli beneath that will not be tit hand Mend him wIngs and lift him Into the netivs sary heights of ex k But the Hiomepttb a begin to see that they I wanted for garnish gar-nish and not for truths sake they will hide partridges in the bushTo In sum uu in JJaconian phrase tills matter of metaphors reading and observation make a full man habits of thoughtful comparison a ready man energy and singleness l of = r aim atf exact and eflectlva man Amda 811effy in The Wr er |