A poet writes 'her laughter was a burst of sunlight.' What type of figure is this, and what does the comparison primarily convey?
AA simile that suggests the laughter was warm and pleasant
BA metaphor that identifies the laughter with light, suggesting radiance and sudden brightness
CPersonification giving laughter a human-like quality
DHyperbole exaggerating how loud the laughter was
There is no 'like' or 'as,' so this is a metaphor, not a simile. The comparison imports properties from sunlight — radiance, warmth, spontaneous arrival — onto the laughter. This is the analytical move: not just naming the figure, but identifying which properties transfer and what they reveal.
Question 2 True / False
Identifying a metaphor in a text and correctly naming it constitutes literary analysis.
TTrue
FFalse
Answer: False
Identification is only the first step. Analysis requires explaining what specific properties the comparison transfers and what that reveals about meaning. Saying 'this is a metaphor' without unpacking it is classification, not analysis. The analytical work lives in completing: 'By comparing X to Y, the author suggests X has the quality of ___'.
Question 3 Short Answer
What does calling grief 'a heavy stone' convey that simply saying 'grief is heavy' does not?
Think about your answer, then reveal below.
Model answer: The metaphor activates a cluster of properties — weight, immobility, coldness, persistence, the physical sensation of being burdened — that the literal statement cannot convey with the same richness. The stone gives grief shape, texture, and sensory immediacy.
Figurative language works by importing an entire schema from a source domain. When grief becomes a 'stone,' readers draw on everything they know about stones and select the relevant properties. A literal claim conveys a single attribute; a figure transfers a whole experiential gestalt that cannot be fully paraphrased without loss.