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An extended metaphor, also known as a conceit or sustained metaphor, is the use of a single metaphor or analogy at length in a work of literature. It differs from a mere metaphor in its length, and in having more than one single point of contact between the object described (the so-called tenor) and the comparison used to describe it (the vehicle).
"O Captain! My Captain!" is an extended metaphor poem written by Walt Whitman in 1865 about the death of U.S. president Abraham Lincoln. Well received upon publication, the poem was Whitman's first to be anthologized and the most popular during his lifetime.
Scholars have noted that the form of the poem follows the content: the wavelike quality of the long-then-short lines parallels the narrative thread of the poem. The extended metaphor of "crossing the bar" represents travelling serenely and securely from life into death. The Pilot is a metaphor for God, whom the speaker hopes to meet face to face.
The poem uses the conceit of a flea, which has sucked blood from the male speaker and his female lover, to serve as an extended metaphor for the relationship between them. The speaker tries to convince a lady to sleep with him, arguing that if their blood mingling in the flea is innocent, then sexual mingling would also be innocent.
The poem is ten lines total, split into two stanzas of five lines. The poem deals with the theme of isolation, particularly the isolation of an individual soul in relation to the larger world. Whitman uses a central extended metaphor in which the spider in the poem represents the speaker's soul. [4]
The conjunction of his learning and role as ambassador becomes the extended metaphor on which the poem's tribute turns. Twelve "Elegies upon the Author" accompanied the posthumous first collected edition of Donne's work, Poems by J.D. with elegies of the author’s death (1633), [ 17 ] and were reprinted in subsequent editions over the course ...
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This poem uses an extended metaphor in favor of emotions by negatively equating grammar with thought and rationality. [2] However, there is a kind of irony in the piece, as despite these assertions syntax and grammar are used masterfully.