The "Life is a highway" metaphor takes the attributes of a highway-including its association with journeys, adventures, speed, and the fact that we all travel them side-by-side-and connects them to life. The metaphor operates by borrowing key attributes from the vehicle and attributing them to the tenor. The vehicle is the thing to which the tenor is compared.įor instance, in the metaphor " Life is a highway," life is the tenor because it's the thing being described, while "highway" is the vehicle because it's the thing life is being compared to.The tenor is the thing a metaphor describes.Here's how to pronounce extended metaphor: ex- tend-id met-uh-fore Extended Metaphors in DepthĪll metaphors can be broken down into two elements: a tenor and a vehicle. The terms "conceit" and "extended metaphor" can be used interchangeably, though "conceit" is also sometimes used in an even more specialized way than "extended metaphor" is.Rather, extended metaphors are figurative-they create meaning beyond the literal meanings of their words. For instance, nobody is suggesting that life is literally a highway when they use that common metaphor. As in a regular metaphor, the comparisons created in an extended metaphor are not meant to be taken literally. Extended metaphors can span an entire story or poem, or just a few clauses of the same sentence.
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