A metaphor is a trope or figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between two unlike things that actually have something in common.
隱喻是將兩種有共同點的不同事物進行隱晦比較的修辭手法。

隱喻在英語里被叫做metaphor。其實這個單詞源于希臘，在希臘語里，metaphor表達“transfer”或者“carry across”的意思，即把一物的意思轉移到另一物上。

在這篇文章中，我們通過兩首詩歌來學習兩種不同類別的暗喻。

Conventional Metaphor常規(guī)隱喻

These metaphors are so common that we may not even notice that they are metaphors.
這類隱喻很常見，我們甚至都感覺不到這是隱喻。

美國詩人羅伯特·弗羅斯特（Robert Frost）創(chuàng)作的《未選擇的路》（The Road Not Taken）這一首詩當中，詩人就將生活比作路（road），展現了現實生話中人們處在十字路口時難以抉擇的心情。

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

黃葉林中出條岔路，

無奈一人難于兼顧，

順著一條婉蜒小路，

久久佇立極目遠眺，

只見小徑拐進灌木。

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that, the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

接著選擇了另一條，

同樣清楚似乎更好，

引人踩踏鋪滿茂草，

踏在其間難分彼此，

盡管真有兩條道。

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way

I doubted if I should ever come back.

清晨里躺著兩條路，

一樣葉被無人踏臟，

愿將第一條來日補，

但知條條相連遠途，

懷疑日后怎能回返。

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

在很久以后某一地，

我將嘆息訴說于人，

兩路岔開在樹林里，

我選的那條足跡稀，

而一切差別由此起。

Visual Metaphor視覺隱喻

A visual metaphor is the representation of a person, place, thing, or idea by way of a visual image that suggests a particular association or point of similarity.
視覺隱喻是利用視覺圖像指明某人、某地、某物或某種想法與它物具有某種相似性。

還是不了解什么是視覺隱喻？沒關系，我們先看一首詩你就明白了。

l(a

le

af

fa

ll

s)

one

l

iness

肯明斯（E.E. Cummings）的這首落葉詩是很有名的視覺詩。視覺詩指的是利用文字的特別排版以達成特定視覺效果表達作者思想的詩體。這首詩里包含了兩種視覺隱喻。要賞析這首詩，可以先打破作者創(chuàng)造的視覺效果，如此一來，這首詩就變成了這樣：

l (a leaf falls) oneliness

括號內是a leaf falls（一片樹葉落下），括號外是loneliness（寂寞），作者用葉子落下來與寂寞相聯系，這就是第一種隱喻。再看詩呈現出的視覺效果，仿佛一片樹葉從樹枝慢慢落地，這就是第二種隱喻。

聲明：本內容為滬江英語原創(chuàng)整理，轉載需征得同意后，注明出處【滬江英語】。