Metaphor

We understand the world and each other through metaphor. A metaphor is best when used to explain complex emotional states or take an emotional state experienced by an individual and translate it to a larger, cultural experience that could be understood by a group of people. In this, it is easy to see how clichés form.  We seek a common way to understand each other and we see a common way to communicate thoughts, emotions, and ideas. This is what compels us to take a wolf’s skin and spread it over a sheep. Or, wait, it’s the other way around. The wolf puts on the sheep skin, but is that interesting? Not really. Not anymore, I would say. Maybe it still has some use as a teaching tool. Still, because of this clichéd metaphor, when we think of the reverse, a sheep in wolf’s skin, we understand what that might be like. There are even several other clichés to explain this metaphor:

his bark is bigger than his bite

he talks the talk, but does he walk the walk

 

But of these, imagining the sheep walking around in a wolf’s skin seems far more interesting. Maybe it is because we (or at least I) haven’t encountered this before, but also because it takes a common metaphor, one most of our culture would recognize instantly, and uses it to communicate. What’s communicated is fresh and exciting. Mentally stimulating. It’s one of my favorite parts of poetry.

 

 

Next Week I'll be discussing rivalry.