Explicit and Implicit Comparison

[Melissa in Jordan]

Dear Tracy and Lene,

Second question for this week On page 107 in the discussion of metaphor there is a comparison of simile and metaphor using the terms "explicit" and "implicit". When I went over this with dd, I had to get out the dictionary as I realized I couldn't give a clear definition of these two words.

You write: "Simile makes an explicit comparison, by employing 'like' or 'as'. Metaphor makes an implicit comparison, even an indentification, by referring to one thing directly as another.

And, a little farther down: "In metaphor the two nouns being compared are stated explicitly, death 'equals' drum."

The two statements seem contridictory to me and I am guessing that the second one is correct? That is, based on my still a bit fuzzy definitions of explicit and implicit. Please let me know if I'm confused here--a very strong possibility

Thanks so much,
Melissa
PS We had great fun with the haiku last week. I will post a few when I track down my daughter's notebook.

[Lene Mahler Jaqua]

Melissa,

In both cases you caught things which should have been caught in the proofreading of the text.

Metaphor is an explicit comparision X = Y no moderation. Simile is an implicit comparison X is like Y in some sense, but not explicitly stated to be so.

In your other question.... Reporter's Questions can, of course be applied to anything, however, generally they are meant for reporting something to do with an action, with events. Lyrical poetry is often contemplative and therefore less action oriented, wherefore Reporter's Questions are sometimes less suitable. - Often in lyrical poetry, sensory or emotional questions are more likely to get to the detailed core of the meaning of the poem.

Lene

[Tracy Gustilo]

Excellent questions, Melissa. I'm puzzling especially over the explicit/implicit metaphor question. What did we mean by those statements?? :^)

I think there are at least a couple ways of looking at this (maybe more). It's worth thinking about because it forces us to grasp better what a metaphor is -- and what a simile is. Only with a simile are we saying outright that we are making a *comparison* by using the word "like" or "as". With a metaphor the reader has to figure it out that there is a comparison being made -- as opposed to a non-metaphorical identification. For example:

You are like the salt of the earth.
You are the salt of the earth.
Salt is a necessary nutrient.

Here we have a comparison explicitly being made in the case of the simile (the "like" is deliberately given as an indicator of comparison). In the second case, with the metaphor, there is a comparison, but the reader has to figure out that it exists. That there is a figural comparison being made is not overtly indicated, but is only implicit or implied. In the last case, there is no comparison being made. Salt is one of the class of nutrients. The focus is on the explicitness or implicitness of the *comparison* being made (or not).

But Lene is right that there is also something much stronger about a metaphor than a simile. The two *terms* (nouns) of a metaphor are asserted in a way that they aren't with a simile; they are "equal". Both the literal and figural terms in the "equation" of a metaphor of identification are asserted with equal force. In a simile, by contrast, one of the terms, the literal one, is dominant. By pointing out the comparison being made (explicitly) one has effectively weakened the forcefulness of assertion of the figural term. But the notion of forceful assertion is also sometimes captured by the word "explicit". Being explicit about the comparison causes you to be less explicit or forceful in asserting the figural term. In this case, the focus is on the two *terms* of the comparison rather than on the existence and obviousness of the fact of a comparison being made.

Definitely a good question. I don't think Lene and I had this explicit/implicit business sorted out when we wrote. But I do see both intuitions, which is probably what originally prompted us to write as we did. Figuring out (pun intended! <G>) seeming contradictions that both nevertheless have some intuitive appeal is always a good exercise in careful thinking.

Thanks for asking.
Tracy

[Tracy Gustilo]

I had another thought about this. Maybe I am being too picky... but it occurred to me that if there was a sort of unequal comparison in simile, one might be tempted to try to "equalize" the two terms in some way. To do that, one might want to try to freight the figural terms with some adjectives or modifiers.

Just off the top of my head, it seems metaphors (of identification) can often be short and blunt:

My bed is a boat.
Death is a drum.

But similes can tend to be freighted:

My love is like a red, red rose.

I throw this out as a hypothesis. It would be interested if somebody could find some evidence, either supporting or refuting it.

Tracy