Goodness, just when I was getting the hang of it–or so I thought; Alan at Fresh Bilge has posted and pointed us to an example of mixed, scrambled, and overbaked metaphor in journalism.
I have always preferred, as does Alan, the straightforward approach to writing, even in fiction and poetry, but what metaphor has taught me is to compress an idea into a readily recognizable–and therefore, feelable–mental image. A “cavelike” room is more to the point than “dark, small, rough, musty, and inhibiting.”
But again we must, I think, play with words to try them out, approaching an idea with all the senses alert and ready to reveal before we share. While metaphor can serve the purpose of presenting a clearer picture, I find myself using it more lately to instead hide within its use of language. Feelings that could much more easily be stated as “I feel sad, I’m hurting,” are cloaked with images that separate a writier from the words and give a sense of security against a vulnerability that he may want to shout out loud, yet needs some protective cover that he finds in metaphor. It’s all about the perception and the reality that makes it real or not.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology