The following are the most important figures:
1. A METAPHOR is founded on the resemblance which one object bears to
another; or, it is a comparison in an abridged form.
When I say of some great minister, "That he upholds the state like a
_pillar_ which supports the weight of a whole edifice," I fairly make a
comparison; but when I say of such a minister, "That he is the _pillar_
of the state," the word pillar becomes a metaphor. In the latter
construction, the comparison between the minister and a pillar, is made
in the mind; but it is expressed without any of the words that denote
comparison.
Metaphors abound in all writings. In the scriptures they may be found in
vast variety. Thus, our blessed Lord is called a vine, a lamb, a lion,
&c.; and men, according to their different dispositions, are styled
wolves, sheep, dogs, serpents, vipers, &c.
Washington Irving, in speaking of the degraded state of the American
Aborigines who linger on the borders of the "white settlements," employs
the following beautiful metaphor: "The proud _pillar_ of their
independence has been shaken down, and the whole moral _fabric_ lies in
ruins.
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