Metaphor: The Skeleton of a Poem

A metaphor shows an object in another way. You call one thing another thing, and this helps your reader (hopefully!) see that first thing in a new way. Here are 2 examples from poems:

The Wind Woman

The Wind's white fingers
Are thin and sharp,
And she plays all night
On an icy harp.

—Barbara Juster Esbensen, in Swing Around the Sun

Untitled

Slow-moving paddleboats rowing away.
Turtles away! So long.
So long is the journey you're starting today—

—Kurt Cyrus, in Hotel Deep