While on a writing ramble several years ago, I discovered that I love connections.

What do I mean by that?  Many things.  In communication, connection can mean clarifying an idea, showing how items relate, or bridging the divide between speaker and audience.  On the other hand, connection in business can involve seeing how data relates or creating clarity by organizing items into usable information.  Similarly, what I enjoy most about studying other languages is learning how one language connects to others and its own intricate internal links.

With my passion for connections, I suppose it’s fitting that I found myself recently drawn into a brief study of the similarities and differences between four forms of figurative, comparative language: similes, metaphors, analogies, and conceits.

A simile is “a figure of speech in which two essentially unlike things are compared, often in a phrase introduced by like or as” (“Simile”).  Based on simple observation, my guess is that similes are the most common form of figurative language in English, and certainly the most common of the four types of figurative language I am covering in this discussion.

• Example: “She is like a rose, with her red lips, pink cheeks, constant fragrance, and thorny personality.”
• Formula: [Subject] is like [object].

Metaphors are “a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action that it does not literally denote in order to imply a resemblance” (“Metaphor”).

• Example: “She is a rose—pretty from a distance, but painfully clingy if you get too close.”
• Formula: [Subject] is [object].

An analogy is “a form of reasoning based on the assumption that if two things are known to be alike in some respects, then they are probably alike in other respects” (“Analogy”).

One way to think of an analogy is that it is an extended simile, with an emphasis on a list of similarities and/or differences.  It is an extrapolation of a comparison.  An analogy is essentially an “if/then” scenario: “if this is true, then this must also be true.”

• Example: “It has been well said that an author who expects results from a first novel is in a position similar to that of a man who drops a rose petal down the Grand Canyon of Arizona and listens for the echo.” (ch. 3 of Cocktail Time by P. G. Wodehouse)
• Formula: Sorry, but there isn’t really a formula for this.

Finally, the least well-known of these forms of comparative language is the conceit, which is “a fanciful poetic image, especially an elaborate or exaggerated comparison” (“Conceit”).

A conceit is essentially an extended metaphor.  Metaphors come up with a substitute for what they are trying to depict and use the substitute and its similarities and/or differences to the original subject to provide new points of view on it.  In the case of a conceit, though, the writer is using a scenario instead of a direct substitution of one object in the place of another.  Instead of the if/then scenario of an analogy, though, a conceit makes a bolder claim: “this metaphor is so; thus, this extension of the metaphor must also be so.”

• Examples: One striking example of this literary form is John Donne’s poem “The Flea,” where Donne compares the relationship between a flea and his lover to his potential married relationship with her.  It’s kind of disturbing when you think about it, but undeniably memorable.  A pleasanter example of a conceit can be found in the first kiss scene from Romeo and Juliet.
• Formula: This isn’t really formula material, either, which is unfortunate because I’d like to experiment with conceits more, and a formula would be handy.

After completing this exercise in comparison, I think my next challenge should be to try my hand at some analogies and conceits.  Perhaps if I master those, then I will be able to fathom a formula for them as well.  Until then, I hope my perspective on these four forms of figurative language has shed some light on them for you.

Works Cited

“Analogy.” American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. 2011. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. 31 Dec. 2021 https://www.thefreedictionary.com/analogy

“Conceit.” American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. 2011. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. 31 Dec. 2021 https://www.thefreedictionary.com/conceit

“Metaphor.” Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014. 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014. HarperCollins Publishers. 31 Dec. 2021 https://www.thefreedictionary.com/metaphor

“Simile.” American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. 2011. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. 31 Dec. 2021 https://www.thefreedictionary.com/simile