Metaphor and Image

This past week, I had the opportunity to go twice with Marc to his poetry class. I even read the materials before I went, and in them, I began to gain an even deeper appreciation of the ideas of metaphor and the image. 

The professor stressed the fact that metaphor is what makes us who we are. We do not live our lives without it. We cannot have any kind of deeper understanding of the world without it. For example, in biology, we cannot grasp the concept of the atom unless we make it into a metaphor-- particle or wave. We know that it is not an actual particle or wave, but it helps to understand its function. In the same way, metaphor does this for us every day: 

"This house is an icebox."

"That girl was a witch."

"His mind is an empty cave."

These are just some elementary examples, but if you pay attention, you will realize that we often employ metaphor to help others understand what we are trying to explain. 

As I was learning more about this concept, we also got into the idea of the haiku-- the image. This is rather different than metaphor. Whereas in a metaphor, you use B to help you understand A, in a haiku, you are simply giving your readers an image. Usually, there is no huge, deeper meaning. 

Basho is one of the most famous haiku poets. What follows are a few of his poems: 

Alongside the roadside,

blossoming wild roses

in my horse's mouth.

On the white poppy, 

a butterfly's torn wing

is a keepsake.

Heat waves shimmering

one or two inches

above the dead grass.

Can you see it?

I never before really looked at the haiku as a thing of beauty, but I realized this past week how intriguing it can be to adequately describe an image in a way that makes you feel like you actually see it. I decided to try my hand at it, because I love descriptive imagery in narrative or poetry. Here is my first try: 

A blue snowcone

Soaking

Into the sidewalk. 

I like the haiku, simply because you, as the reader, can imagine all sorts of scenarios. For example, with the snowcone haiku, you could imagine that perhaps a little child dropped his or her snowcone after waiting all day to get one. You can imagine the intial shock, the mournful look up at Mommy and Daddy, the big tears forming, the little body trembling as they begin to cry, pointing down at their lost treasure. Or you could imagine the end of a summer day-- the carnival is over, the pool is closing, or the vacationers on the boardwalk are heading home. The snowcone is just one of the remaining pieces of the fun that has ended, and the cleaners haven't yet arrived. 

Speaking an image into existence is such a powerful thing, as is writing it. Try it. Haiku or metaphor. They are two different ideas, but they both help us to understand or see the world in a much clearer way. (And they are so much fun to read and write!)