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Hyperbole
Definition of Metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor can be stated explicitly, as... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other... read full definition
Key Examples in Of Plymouth Plantation
Book 1, Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—The Yoke of Bondage:
Bradford uses a wide range of devices—throughout the first book, in particular—to paint a picture of the Puritans as persecuted outsiders in their home country. While this portrayal is not necessarily unfounded, the dichotomy Bradford creates of evil oppressor and innocent oppressed nonetheless requires a rhetorical effort on his part, which is worth paying attention to. Note, for instance, the metaphor Bradford includes in this excerpt from Book 1, Chapter 1:
Those reformers who saw the evil of these things, and whose hearts the Lord had touched with heavenly zeal for his truth, shook off this yoke of anti-Christian bondage and as the Lord’s free people joined themselves together by covenant as a church.
Related Themes:
Book 1, Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—Religion and Colonialism:
In the following passage from Book 1, Chapter 4, Bradford outlines the Leyden congregation's rationale for moving from Holland to New England. One reason the congregation gives for this move is evangelism: they wish to spread the news of their Lord and Savior to the corners of earth, as per the directive given to Christians in the New Testament of the Bible. Describing this intertwining of religion and colonialism, Bradford uses an appropriate metaphor:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Last and not least, they cherished a great hope and inward zeal of laying good foundations, or at least of making some way towards it, for the propagation and advance of the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in the remote parts of the world, even though they should be but stepping stones to others in the performance of so great a work.
Related Themes:
Book 1, Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Milk of England:
In the following passage from Book 1, Chapter 6, Bradford uses figurative language—specifically metaphor—to outline the relationship between England and the members of the Puritan congregation at Leyden. Theirs is a parent-child relationship of sorts, though indubitably fraught:
Unlock with LitCharts A+We are well weaned from the delicate milk of our mother country, and inured to the difficulties of a strange and hard land, which by patience we have largely overcome.
Related Themes:
