Unlike a simile, which uses “like” or “as” to compare two things, a metaphor directly states one thing is another. It makes a comparison between two things that are otherwise unrelated. The comparisons are usually vague, making the reader work to figure out what is being said.

For example, singer Pat Benatar’s lyric, “Love is a Battlefield” and from William Shakespeare, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players…”

In one of my all time favorite poems, Emily Dickinson uses a metaphor to compare hope to a bird, “Hope” is the thing with feathers.” In this up-lifiting poem, Emily imagines hope having feathers and perching in the soul, forever singing:

Hope is the Thing with Feathers

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm -

I’ve heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -
Yet - never - in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of me.

—Emily Dickinson, "'Hope' is the Thing with Feathers" from The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, edited by Thomas H. Johnson, ed., Cambridge, Mass.

But how do you go about creating or brainstorming metaphors for a poem? Today I’m sharing a fun exercise that can help you tap into your senses to create metaphors. We’ll go through an example below followed by a downloadable template I created to help you practice metaphor writing.

Metaphor exercise:

Think of an object then write a list of these categories:

• Looks like
• Feels like
• Sounds like
• Smells like
• Tastes like
• Moves like

What do you see that resembles your subject? Write it down. They don’t have to make perfect sense, just write what comes to mind. For example if your subject is a weeping willow tree, you may write:

• Looks like: hair braids, party streamers, ropes, a crooked old man, a cigar
• Feels like: fabric, rough stones, crumpled aluminum foil.
• Sounds like: rushing water, wind chimes, a creaking rocking chair.
• Smells like: rain, dirt, dust
• Moves like: a dancer, a waving flag, a hula skirt.
• Tastes like: Mold, seasons, mushrooms, dirt.

Now you have a jumping off place for your poem. Look at the list, which comparisons speak to you? Which can you build your poem around? Based on this list, your metaphor might be, “A willow tree is a dancer, swaying to crickets’ song,” “The willow tree is a melody, soft wind chimes of nature,” or “A tree is life, from season to season, from dust to dust.”

This exercise helps build ideas and gives you a path to take that you might not have thought of before the exercise. Download the template below to practice writing metaphors for your poetry. Enjoy!

Downloadable template

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