I’ve
decided to make an occasional departure from my usual ‘Best Bits’ posts, to
share some light-hearted lyrical lessons.
Lyrical
Lesson 1: Simile vs Metaphor
A
simile is a comparison of one thing to another, often using the words as or like.
A
metaphor is when a term is applied to something to which it is not literally
applicable, in order to suggest a resemblance.
(Thanks to my poor, coverless, rendered-into-two-volumes Macquarie dictionary
for that definition. I asked for a new
dictionary for Christmas but instead got Macquarie’s A-Z of People and Places,
which tells me Simitis became Greek prime minister in 1996 and Meta is a river
in Colombia.)
But
back to Lyrical Lesson 1:
When
Nellie Fertado tells us she’s like a bird and will only fly away, she’s singing
in simile. The Blues Brothers, however, tell
us to shake our tail feathers implying we are actual birds with tail feathers
to shake (metaphor).
Elton
John compares Norma Jean (Marilyn Monroe) to a candle in the wind, something
flickering and fragile, never destined to last (simile). Katie Perry sings, Baby you’re a
firework. There is no comparison; Baby is that explosion in the sky (metaphor).
Jordin
Sparks questions why love always feels like
a battlefield (simile). Well, Jordin, Pat
Benetar had the metaphorical answer back in the eighties:
Love
is a battlefield.
