9.1 Figures of Comparison and Analogy

Executive Summary: Figures of comparison and analogy form the bedrock of literary interpretation on the Alberta English Language Arts 30-1 Diploma Examination. Part B assesses "understanding of the purpose and effect of writers' choices," so recognizing a "metaphor" or "simile" is only the start. Questions typically ask you to explain how comparative relationships function—analyzing the interaction between tenor and vehicle, the thematic trajectory of extended conceits, the architectural coherence of allegory, and the psychological resonance of motifs and archetypes. To achieve the Standard of Excellence, candidates must articulate why an author chose a specific comparison and how that figurative bridge alters the reader's understanding of character dilemma and human experience.

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The Cognitive and Thematic Architecture of Comparison

In senior academic English, figurative comparison is not mere stylistic embellishment. It is a cognitive process whereby an author transfers attributes from a familiar, sensory, or concrete domain to illuminate an unfamiliar, complex, or abstract one. When Shakespeare's Macbeth laments that life is "a walking shadow, a poor player / That struts and frets his hour upon the stage," he is not decorating his despair; he is using the ephemeral artifice of the theatre to define existential futility.

On the Part B blueprint, comparison devices belong mainly to Reporting Category 2 (relate textual forms, elements, and techniques to content, purpose, and effect), usually at thinking levels B (Infer, Apply, and Analyze) and C (Assess and Form Generalizations). Success requires understanding both micro-level figures (metaphors, similes) and macro-level structural tropes (conceits, allegories, archetypes).

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Deconstructing the Metaphor: A Quick Review

Section 5.2 introduces I.A. Richards's terms: the tenor (the subject being described), the vehicle (the image used to describe it), and the ground (the qualities they share). In Lady Macbeth's desperate cry, "Out, damned spot! out, I say!", the vehicle is the stubborn stain of blood and the tenor is her guilt. The ground is permanence and pollution, since neither will wash away. This section extends those terms to the full range of comparison devices.

Categories of Metaphorical Expression

• Explicit Metaphor: The tenor and vehicle are both named directly in the text ("The world is a stage").
• Implicit (Implied) Metaphor: The tenor is not stated directly; instead, the vehicle's attributes are applied to it through verbs, adjectives, or context. For instance, writing that "The general barked orders and snapped at his subordinates" compares the general to an aggressive guard dog without ever uttering the word "canine." On Part B, implicit metaphors are high-frequency targets because identifying them requires close reading of subtle diction.
• Extended Metaphor: A metaphor sustained throughout multiple lines, stanzas, or an entire narrative, systematically developing multiple points of correspondence along the ground.
• Dead vs. Active Metaphors: A dead metaphor has lost its figurative vitality through cultural overuse ("the leg of a table," "falling in love"). Passages chosen for literary merit tend to feature active, defamiliarizing metaphors that force readers to re-conceptualize human experience.

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Simile and the Epic / Homeric Expansion

A simile creates an explicit comparison using explicit connective prepositions or conjunctions, most commonly like, as, than, or resembles. By maintaining formal grammatical distance between the two terms, a simile preserves their distinct identities while directing attention to a specific shared property.

The Epic (Homeric) Simile

In classical drama, epic poetry (e.g., Milton's Paradise Lost), and elevated narrative prose, authors deploy the epic simile—an elaborate, multi-clause comparison that extends over dozens of lines. The epic simile frequently shifts the reader's focus entirely away from the primary narrative action to depict a detailed, secondary pastoral or natural scene before returning to the original subject. Questions on epic similes test a reader's ability to maintain narrative orientation and recognize how the secondary landscape reflects the psychological state of the protagonist.

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The Metaphysical Conceit: Intellect, Wit, and Disparate Spheres

A hallmark of seventeenth-century Metaphysical poetry (John Donne, George Herbert, Andrew Marvell), the conceit is an elaborate, intellectually daring comparison between two very different spheres. Section 5.2 discusses Donne's famous compass conceit. A second example shows how a conceit can argue.

In Donne's "The Flea," the speaker points to a flea that has bitten both him and the woman he is courting. He claims their blood now mingles inside it, so the flea is "our marriage bed, and marriage temple." The comparison is deliberately far-fetched, and its wit is the argument: if their blood is already joined in so small a creature, he suggests, her refusal is pointless.

When a question asks about a conceit, the best answer usually identifies both the unlikely comparison and the idea it is used to argue or reconcile.

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Allegory: Sustained Narrative Parallelism

An allegory is an extended narrative prose or verse structure in which characters, settings, objects, and plot events operate on two concurrent levels of meaning: a literal surface narrative and an underlying, cohesive system of abstract philosophical, religious, or political concepts.

Unlike a symbol, which radiates multiple, ambiguous connotations, classical allegory relies on structured, one-to-one correspondence:

• In George Orwell's Animal Farm, the rebellion against Farmer Jones directly parallels the Bolshevik overthrow of Czar Nicholas II, with specific characters embodying historical agents (Old Major as Marx/Lenin; Napoleon as Stalin).
• In William Golding's Lord of the Flies, the descent into savagery on an uninhabited island allegorizes the fragile veneer of democratic civilization and the innate human capacity for barbarism.

When evaluating allegorical excerpts on Part B, look for symbolic character names, stylized conflicts, and moralistic fables where external actions mirror ideological doctrines.

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Symbol and Motif: Distinguishing Meaning from Structure

Students frequently conflate symbols and motifs. Mastering the precise analytical boundary between them is critical for high-level multiple-choice accuracy:

Public vs. Contextual Symbolism

• Public (Conventional) Symbols: Possess culturally universal meanings prior to entering the text (e.g., a white dove signifying peace, a serpent denoting deception, winter signifying death).
• Contextual (Authorial) Symbols: Acquire symbolic resonance exclusively through the unique internal logic of the text. For example, in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, the green light at the end of Daisy's dock begins as an ordinary navigational beacon but becomes a poignant contextual symbol of Gatsby's yearning, the corruption of the American Dream, and the unbridgeable gulf of class.

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Archetypes: Primordial Universal Patterns

Derived from Carl Jung's psychological theory of the collective unconscious and popularized in literary analysis by Northrop Frye, archetypes are universal, cross-cultural symbols, character types, and narrative patterns that recur across mythologies, classical literature, and contemporary texts.

Core Archetypes on ELA 30-1

• The Shadow: The dark, repressed, or unacknowledged aspect of the protagonist's psyche, often projected onto an antagonist or moral foil (e.g., Edward Hyde in Stevenson's novella, or Edmund in King Lear).
• The Scapegoat: An innocent figure whose ritualistic expulsion or sacrifice purges the community's guilt and restores societal order (e.g., Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," or Simon in Lord of the Flies).
• The Archetypal Quest: A cyclical journey involving separation, descent into a threshold/underworld, transformation through initiation, and return with a restorative elixir.
• Initiation / Loss of Innocence: The transition from childhood naivety to adult moral consciousness, inevitably accompanied by painful disillusionment.

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How Part B Questions Test Comparison Devices

Questions about devices can be pitched at different depths. Consider this progression for an implicit metaphor:

Level 1: Mechanical Recall ──▶ "What literary device appears in line 12?" (least useful)
Level 2: Structural Link   ──▶ "The speaker's comparison of the clock to a predator serves to..."
Level 3: Thematic Insight  ──▶ "The figurative description of time primarily underscores the speaker's 
                                paralyzing awareness of impending mortality."

When approaching multiple-choice items centered on comparative devices, implement this 3-point protocol:

1. Locate the Vehicle: What tangible sensory image is the author invoking?
2. Isolate the Ground: What specific quality or atmosphere does that vehicle introduce (e.g., predatory stealth, crystalline fragility, industrial decay)?
3. Map to Character / Theme: How does that specific atmosphere resolve the central human conflict in the passage?

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Comprehensive Comparative Devices Reference Table