What's the difference between an analogy and a metaphor?

[DiracPool]

Go for it..

 

[Ryan_m_b]

http://bit.ly/Y69z1Z

 

[DiracPool]

Nice Job, Ryan. I like that.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

To be a little bit more helpful as I understand it analogy is when one says that X is like Y (even if Y doesn't necessarily possesses the trait in question, it's usually poetic) whereas metaphor is when you use a term that has a different meaning to convey the point. E.g.

"That scientist is as smart as a fox" - analogy

"She blinded me with science" - metaphor

And for an added bonus

"This drink is as cold as ice" - simile, which is similar to an analogy but is more of a direct comparison rather than a figure of speech

 

[xxChrisxx]

"That scientist is as smart as a fox" - analogy

"She blinded me with science" - metaphor

Would both be metaphors, well the first is actually a simile. And everyone knows foxes are cunning!
Analogies are extended metaphors, to convey a specific point. If it's just a figure of speech it doesn't really qualify.

An interesting question though. I've never really given it any thought before.

 

[Pythagorean]

To be a little bit more helpful as I understand it analogy is when one says that X is like Y (even if Y doesn't necessarily possesses the trait in question, it's usually poetic) whereas metaphor is when you use a term that has a different meaning to convey the point. E.g.

"That scientist is as smart as a fox" - analogy

"She blinded me with science" - metaphor

And for an added bonus

"This drink is as cold as ice" - simile, which is similar to an analogy but is more of a direct comparison rather than a figure of speech

I don't think that works for a simile does it? It's not novel, drink's can actually be cold. You have to create new meaning with a simile.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I don't think that works for a simile does it? It's not novel, drink's can actually be cold. You have to create new meaning with a simile.

A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two different things, usually by employing the words "like" or "as" – also, but less commonly, "if", or "than". A simile differs from a metaphor in that the latter compares two unlike things by saying that the one thing is the other thing.

I think you're right. In saying, "This beer is as cold as ice." you are saying the physical temperature of one thing is the same as the physical temperature of another. Two different things aren't being compared. See the difference if you say, "The killer was as cold as ice." There, you're referring to his lack of human emotional responsiveness and comparing it to a physically low temperature. Two different things being compared.

To turn this into a metaphor we'd simply assert the killer was the thing we're comparing him to: "The killer was a block of ice."