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Irony
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
Part 1, Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Sack of Rome:
As The Good Soldier opens, Ford uses an allusion and a metaphor to outline the seriousness of the small, internal events of marriages and relationships for the reader:
Someone has said that the death of a mouse from cancer is the whole sack of Rome by the Goths, and I swear to you that the breaking up of our little four-square coterie was such another unthinkable event.
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Part 3, Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—Lasting Wheal:
When they’re constantly in close proximity toward the end of the novel, Leonora’s hatred of Nancy becomes almost impossible to conceal. The narrator employs tactile imagery and metaphor to depict Leonora's desire for revenge against Nancy for her adultery with Edward.
Unlock with LitCharts A+Yes, Leonora wished to bring her riding-whip down on Nancy’s young face. She imagined the pleasure she would feel when the lash fell across those queer features; the pleasure she would feel at drawing the handle at the same moment toward her, so as to cut deep into the flesh and to leave a lasting wheal. Well, she left a lasting wheal, and her words cut deeply into the girl’s mind […]
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Part 3, Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Fire-Ships:
As he tries to encapsulate the beauty and the concurrent tragedy of their relationship, John describes Edward and Leonora as being like Viking funeral ships drifting through a "river" of tragic lives:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Here were two noble people—for I am convinced that both Edward and Leonora had noble natures—here, then, were two noble natures, drifting down life, like fire-ships afloat on a lagoon and causing miseries, heartaches, agony of the mind and death. And they themselves steadily deteriorated. And why? For what purpose? To point what lesson? It is all a darkness.
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