examples of Metaphor in English literature

Metaphoris a form of figurative language that can be used as a literary technique. A metaphor is a way to compare two different things to make an interesting connection in the reader’s mind. For more information on how to identify and use metaphor in writing, please check out our Metaphor worksheets. Read on for 30 examples of metaphor, including many metaphor examples from literature.

Metaphor Examples

1. Time is a rushing river.
2. Love is the dessert of life.
3. A family is a wolf pack in the wild forest.
4. My cat is a furry alien that has come to study our ways.
5. She is a delicate orchid blooming in the shade.
6. He is a gentle breeze that calms me down.
7. My parents are the sturdy branches from which all of us flowers grow.
8. The lawn is a beautiful green blanket we spread out every summer.
9. Snow drifts cover the city in sparkling diamonds.
10. Her eyes are two emeralds.
11. His cheeks are red apples.
12. The boys are puppies chasing their favorite toy.
13. The classroom is a magic box full of tricks to discover.
14. You are the sky and the stars, and I am the earth and the sea.
15. Her necklace is a constellation of stars against her skin.

Metaphor Examples From Literature

The following examples are all quoted from various works of literature, including poems, plays, stories and novels.

1. “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages.” – William Shakespeare
2. “Trees are poems the earth writes upon the sky.” – Kahlil Gibran
3. ““I’m a little pencil in the hand of a writing God, who is sending a love letter to the world.” – Mother Teresa
4. “Books are the mirrors of the soul.” – Virginia Woolf
5. “’Life’ wrote a friend of mine, ‘is a public performance on the violin, in which you must learn the instrument as you go along.’” – E.M. Forster
6. “But it is just two lovers, holding hands and in a hurry to reach their car, their locked hands a starfish leaping through the dark.” – John Updike
7. “Time rises and rises, and when it reaches the level of your eyes you drown.” – Margaret Atwood
8. “All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree.” – Albert Einstein
9. “A good conscience is a continual Christmas.” – Benjamin Franklin
10. “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” – Pablo Picasso
11. “The hours here are flat and round, disks of gray layered one on top of the other…they move slowly, at a grind, until it seems as though they are not moving at all.” – Lauren Oliver
12. “Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” – Marcel Proust
13. “She was a mind floating in an ocean of confusion.” – Caroline B. Cooney
14. “Life is a hurricane, and we board up to save what we can and bow low to the earth to crouch in that small space above the dirt where the wind will not reach.” – Jesmyn Ward
15. “’Hope’ is the thing with feathers.” – Emily Dickinson

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