METAPHORS, SIMILES, AND PERSONIFICATION ARE ALL FIGURES OF SPEECH.
A "FIGURE OF SPEECH" IS:
language used in a figurative or nonliteral sense (from: wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn)
OR,
[A] word or phrase that describes one thing in terms of another, and that is not meant to be understood on a literal level. Always involves some sort or imaginative comparison between seemingly unlike things. (from: www.cougar.issaquah.wednet.edu/teachers/wangeman/handbook_of_literary_terms.htm)
(BTW, "Personification" isn't officially part of this lesson, but it's a Figure of Speech, and it's really easy to understand. Like in the movie NEMO, where all the fish could speak and had emotions, just like a person ["person"ification].)
Source: Sources are embedded.
A METAPHOR IS A FIGURE OF SPEECH WHICH IMPLIES COMPARISON BETWEEN TWO UNLIKE THINGS, OFTEN -- BUT NOT ALWAYS -- USING A FORM OF THE VERB "TO BE." A METAPHOR SAYS "[THIS] IS/WAS/HAS BEEN/WILL BE/ etc. [THAT]." ("THAT" IS THE METAPHORICAL PART.)
IT COULD BE EITHER A PHRASE OR A WORD.
“He was drowning in paperwork” is a metaphor in which having to deal with a lot of paperwork is being compared to drowning in an ocean of water.
"Time flies," an ancient metaphorical expression still in use today, does not use a form of the verb "to be."
"Your mother wears combat boots," an expression historically used as an insult, is a good example of a colloquial metaphor, and again, does not use a form of "to be."
A jazzy little video explaining what a metaphor is, and giving vivid pictorial descriptions. It's the bees knees, lemme tell ya.
Source: YouTube
A short, musically entertaining video, illustrating a PB&J sammie as a metaphor for love.
Source: YouTube
A SIMILE IS ALSO A FIGURE OF SPEECH. IT'S AN ANALOGY, A COMPARISON, BETWEEN TWO UNLIKE THINGS, USING "LIKE" OR "AS" TO CONNECT THEM.
FOR ME, THIS IS ACTUALLY EASIER TO CONSTRUCT THAN A METAPHOR, AND IT'S MORE COMMON IN EVERYDAY SPEECH.
(And again, Shakespeare used similes as if they were going out of style.)
You've heard people say that such-and-such is "as ugly as sin." That's a simile: it is introduced with "like" or "as," and makes a comparison.
Volvos are built like tanks.
Aunt Emma is as big as a house.
That T-Rex is as tall as the Empire State Building.
Some more common similies:
". . . as thick as thieves."
". . . like nails on a blackboard."
" . . . as welcome as a skunk at a picnic."
". . . like two peas in a pod."
" . . . as silent as the grave."
Entertaining compilation of songs and movies to demonstrate similes
Source: YouTube
A clever -- and a little sneakier than one might think -- explanation of the difference between metaphors and similes.
Source: YouTube