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Definition of Metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor can be stated explicitly, as... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other... read full definition
Book 1, Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Little Vessels:
In the first chapter of Hard Times, the narration uses a metaphor to compares the young schoolchildren to empty “vessels,” waiting to be filled “to the brim” with M’Choakumchild’s lessons:
The speaker, and the schoolmaster…all backed a little and swept with their eyes the inclined plane of little vessels then and there arranged in order, ready to have imperial gallons of facts poured into them until they were full to the brim.
Related Themes:
Book 1, Chapter 14
Explanation and Analysis—Time as Spinner:
In Book 1, Chapter 14, Louisa contemplates her future, and the narration uses metaphor and personification to describe her thoughts:
Unlock with LitCharts A+It seemed as if, first in her own fire within the house, and then in the fiery haze without, she tried to discover what kind of woof Old Time, that greatest and longest established Spinner of all, would weave from the threads he had already spun into a woman. But, his factory is a secret place, his work is noiseless, and his Hands are mutes.
