Kövecses Z. Metaphor: a practical introduction

New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. – 285 p.For most of us, metaphor is a figure of speech in which one thing is compared
to another by saying that one is the other, as in He is a lion. Or, as
the Encyclopaedia Britannica puts it: metaphor [is a] figure of speech that
implies comparison between two unlike entities, as distinguished from simile,
an explicit comparison signalled by the words ‘like’ or ‘as. ’ [emphases in
the original]. For example, we would consider the word lion to be a metaphor
in the sentence Achilles was a lion in the fight. We would probably
also say that the word is used metaphorically in order to achieve some artistic
and rhetorical effect, since we speak and write metaphorically to communicate
eloquently, to impress others with beautiful, esthetically pleasing
words, or to express some deep emotion. Perhaps we would also add that
what makes the metaphorical identification of Achilles with a lion possible
is that Achilles and lions have something in common, namely, their bravery
and strength.