Robin Burden answered
An example of a metaphor in the poem I Will Rise, by Maya Angelou can be found in the following lines:
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide, Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Metaphors in 'I will rise' by Maya Angelou
In the passage above, Maya Angelou describes herself (or the narrator) as having been through a rough or difficult time, and does so by comparing the problems she's had to overcome to the image of a stormy and vast ocean.
However, the poem 'I will rise' is rather dangerous, as it might prompt the reader to interpret a lot of the comparative imagery used as a form of metaphor when, in actual fact, Angelou actually employs far more similes than metaphors.
(A simile is a comparison between two different concepts that uses the word 'like' or 'as'.)
For example, the metaphor "I'm a black ocean" could be transformed into a simile by inserting the word like: "I'm like a black ocean".
Just to prove how extensive the use of similes is in the poem, here are a couple of examples that I picked up on:
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide, Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Metaphors in 'I will rise' by Maya Angelou
In the passage above, Maya Angelou describes herself (or the narrator) as having been through a rough or difficult time, and does so by comparing the problems she's had to overcome to the image of a stormy and vast ocean.
However, the poem 'I will rise' is rather dangerous, as it might prompt the reader to interpret a lot of the comparative imagery used as a form of metaphor when, in actual fact, Angelou actually employs far more similes than metaphors.
(A simile is a comparison between two different concepts that uses the word 'like' or 'as'.)
For example, the metaphor "I'm a black ocean" could be transformed into a simile by inserting the word like: "I'm like a black ocean".
Just to prove how extensive the use of similes is in the poem, here are a couple of examples that I picked up on:
- I walk like I've got oil wells.
- Pumping in my living room. Just like moons and like suns.
- Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
- 'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines.
