Chris' Christian Blog

Metaphors and Hyperbole

"Metaphors and Hyperbole" 

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Blogging Circle of Friends Day 1520 The blog prompt is "Take a moment to consider symbols/symbolism and what it/they represent.. like birch represents hope, butterflies change or transformation. How often do you use symbols in your writing, in your everyday life? What are some of your favorites?"

I use a lot of symbolism in my writings. When talking about life I metaphorically use terms such as ridges and valleys. The ridges being the times in life where life is trouble free and the valleys being symbols of hardship and trials. I use the metaphor of farmers because any farmer knows that crops grow best in the valley. So I often advise people to ask a farmer if he'd take free land on a mountain or if he'd rather buy expensive land in the valley. I say the farmer will choose the valley every time. This is actually a double metaphor because it means we grow best in the valley but we also make sacrifices for that growth.

Another metaphor I use a lot is that humans are like plants, we need a shovel full of manure thrown on us now and then to grow. I think this one is self explanatory but it means the troubles and trials of life are the experiences that help us grow the most.

Another metaphor I use is that God gives us gifts wrapped in strange packages. The explanation of this metaphor is that those moments of our lives when we are the most troubled or most worried are gifts because those are the times that shape us into who we are. That makes them precious gifts.

Somebody read one of my stories the other night and said he felt like he was reading a sitcom. That was exactly the metaphorical setting I wanted to paint so that review told me I was successful. Metaphors are definitely a writer's best friends. Hyperbole is also a writer's best friend. With hyperbole you give an exaggerated example to get your point across. The Master of hyperbole was Jesus who said "So if your right eye causes you to sin, take it out and throw it away," Matthew 5: 29a.

Jesus did not mean for anybody to literally pluck out their own eye anymore than He literally meant to cut off your right hand if it caused you to sin. What He did mean was to take extreme measures within reason to avoid sinning. He also used this hyperbole to express the seriousness of sin. I don't want to get started on that subject so I'll stop there.

I occasionally use hyperbole if I want to stress a point. So metaphor and hyperbole are two wonderful tools for a writer's tool kit. In fact I just used a metaphor because writers have no actual physical tool kit. Their skills are all internal. So knowing how to use metaphors and hyperbole are internal skills, not something one can box up. Metaphors, symbolism, and hyperbole are all wonderful!