Metaphors: hot chile peppers that explode in the mouth and the mind

I wanted to blog about anomalies but decided to blog about its eccentric child, metaphor. You see, our book tells us that metaphors are anomalies that make sense. I mean they are things that may be impossible but can be grasped and understood in the most abstract way. I thought this video was a fascinating, calm, and creative video on metaphors. It describes metaphors as something that may or may not be true but makes you feel something. I love the fact that the video also goes into the types of metaphors through examples of wonderful literature. Also, the video shows a snippet of metaphor's obvious child, simile (which I always thought they were on the same level in the figures of speech but I guess a simile is a metaphor??). 

I believe that metaphors are so important in language because metaphors are universal. Well some are anyway. For an example, "still waters run deep" and "a heart of gold" are common metaphors that if translated to another language still carries the same connotation in other cultures. Also, metaphors make things easier to read. Good metaphors, that is. When I see a metaphor when I read, it gives my brain a break and paints the picture for me (if that makes any sense aha).

Anyway, I feel like this video helps when understanding metaphors a bit. Who wouldn't enjoy metaphors being played out in a snippet of Langston Hughes' poem "Mother to Son" or Emily Dickinson's description of a gloomy day? 

The art of metaphor by Jane Hirshfield

It's s'cute.