How readers process metaphors

People feel good when they figure analogies out

When readers encounter a metaphor, scholars believe, they:

How readers process metaphors image — Made you think! Metaphor initially stymies readers, then rewards them for figuring out the rhetorical meaning. Image by Giant Humanitarian Robot

Process the literal meaning
Analyze whether the literal meaning makes sense
See the glitch in that meaning
Seek the metaphorical meaning when the literal meaning doesn’t make sense

Some of the power of metaphor comes from readers’ pleasure or relief at figuring out the metaphorical meaning, researchers believe.

Make Magic with Metaphor
It’s tempting to call metaphor the magic spell in a writer’s repertoire, the Penn and Teller of the page.
Metaphor has the power to persuade far better than literal language. It lets you say in five words what would otherwise take five paragraphs to explain.
Would you like to master the magic of metaphor? If so, bring Ann in to present Master the Art of Storytelling — a one- to two-day creative-writing workshop — to your team.
You'll leave with lots of metaphorical magic tricks.
Book in-house workshop.

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Source: Pradeep Sopory and James P. Dillard, “The Persuasive Effects of Metaphor: A Meta-Analysis,” Human Communication Research, July 2002

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