Would "a typewriter on fire" be a metaphor??
You need to provide the entire sentence -- or preferably at least three sentences -- so we know the context.
Let me know.
Sweet Like a Crow Your voice sounds like a scorpion being pushed
through a glass tube
like someone has just trod on a peacock
like wind howling in coconut
like a rusty bible, like someone pulling barbed wire
across a stone courtyard, like a pig drowning
a vattacka being fried
a bone shaking hands
a frog singing at Carnegie Hall.
Like a crow swimming in milk
like a nose being hit by a mango
like the crowd at the Royal-Thomian match,
a womb full of twins, a pariah dog
with a magpie in its mouth
like the midnight jet from Casablanca
like Air Pakistan curry,
a typewriter on fire, like a spirit in the gas
which cooks your dinner, like a hundred
pappadans being crunched, like someone
uselessly trying to light 3 Roses matches in a dark room,
the clicking sound of a reef when you put your head in the sea,
a dolphin reciting epic poetry to a sleepy audience,
the sound of a fan when someone throws brinjals at it,
like pineapples being sliced in the Pettah market
like betel juice hitting a butterfly in mid-air
like a whole village running naked onto the street
and tearing their sarongs, like an angry family
pushing a jeep out of the mud, like dirt on a needle,
like 8 sharks being carried on the back of a bicycle
like 3 old ladies locked in a lavatory
like the sound I heard when having an afternoon sleep
and someone walked through my room in ankle bracelets. This is Michael Ondaatje's poem
Which line is a metaphor?
Since all or nearly all the rest have "like" in front of them (making those similes), those words could be considered a metaphor.
But none of these have "like" in front of them, either. So I'd say this entire poem is a mix of similes, metaphors, and personification.
a bone shaking hands
a frog singing at Carnegie Hall.
a womb full of twins,
a pariah dog / with a magpie in its mouth
the clicking sound of a reef when you put your head in the sea,
a dolphin reciting epic poetry to a sleepy audience,
the sound of a fan when someone throws brinjals at it,
Thanks
You're welcome.
Yes, "a typewriter on fire" can be considered a metaphor. A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two unrelated things without using the words "like" or "as." It asserts that one thing is another thing. In this case, "a typewriter on fire" is being used as a metaphor to describe something that is intense, chaotic, or out of control.
To determine if a phrase is a metaphor, you can analyze the words used and the intended meaning. In this case, "typewriter" and "fire" are unrelated objects, but the phrase is used to describe something beyond the literal meaning of a burning typewriter. It implies a sense of passion, destruction, or turmoil. By understanding the metaphorical use of language, you can identify and interpret metaphors in various forms of communication.