What are the major and minor types of metaphors giving examples?

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What are all types of metaphor?

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There are numerous types of metaphor, here we have definitions and examples of a few of them:

Extended Metaphor:

Extended metaphor uses principal subject along with several subsidiary comparisons and subjects such as Shakespeare has used:

“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.”

Active Metaphor:

An active metaphor uses comparisons that are not the part of everyday language like “you are your mother’s sun.”

Synecdochic Metaphor:

It chooses a small part of a thing to represent the whole to highlight specific elements or qualities of the whole. In Robert Frost’s poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”, the journey through forests and woods refers to the life journey of the poet.

Compound Metaphor:

It catches the mind by using different points of similarity such as this phrase “you have a wild stag’ s hands.” It suggests grace, speed and daring as qualities.

Conceptual Metaphor:

The conceptual metaphor presents an underlying association, which is systematic in thought and language or simply it is an understanding of one idea in terms of another one. For instance, Dylan Thomas in his poem “Do not Go Gentle into That Good Night”, presents a conceptual metaphor of “A Lifetime is a Day.”

Implicit Metaphor:

It does not clearly state a comparison and the tenor is not revealed or specified such as “David is drowning in love.” Here love is compared to water but water is not mentioned.

Submerged Metaphor:

Submerged metaphor does not reveal meaning or it is shown by just one aspect like “my winged ideas.” Now in this line, audience can get an image of a bird.

Dead Metaphor:

A dead metaphor is a metaphor that has lost its figurative value due to overuse or uses an image that does not exist anymore such as “he did not catch her name”, “run out of time”, and  “foot of a hill.”

Root Metaphor:

In root metaphor, an event or image molds or shapes a person’s view of the world and his/her interpretation of reality, such as a myth that usually takes a form of the story about cosmos.