Name: The art of the metaphor
Uploaded: 2020-01-30T20:00:39Z
Duration: 5 min 27 s
Description: How do metaphors help us better understand the world? And, what makes a good metaphor? Explore these questions with writers like Langston Hughes and Carl Sandburg, who have mastered the art of bringing a scene or emotion to life. [Directed by Ben Pearce, narrated by Jane Hirshfield].

Jane Hirshfield: The art of the metaphor

The art of the metaphor

How do metaphors help us better understand the world? And, what makes a good metaphor? Explore these questions with writers like Langston Hughes and Carl Sandburg, who have mastered the art of bringing a scene or emotion to life. [Directed by Ben Pearce, narrated by Jane Hirshfield].

Metaphors let people grasp abstract ideas by linking them to vivid sensory scenes, like describing heavy rain as 'raining cats and dogs.' They bypass logic, appealing directly to imagination and feeling, and can be as precise as a beagle or as evocative as a cricket singing on a drifting branch. Great metaphors, found in poetry and daily speech alike, make intangible concepts feel tangible, opening doors to new ways of understanding. When words become handles, they create worlds beyond literal meaning.