Metaphor and Extended Metaphor

Definition of Metaphor: a comparison between two non-related things or ideas without the use of the words "like" or "as"

Definition of Extended Metaphor: a comparison between two non-related group of things or ideas, then creating other metaphors and comparisons based on the first comparison

Example of Metaphor:

He was born with a heart of ice.

Example of Extended Metaphor:

Hope is the Thing with Feathers by Emily Dickinson

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.  

Significance: Metaphors and extended metaphors create imagery in the writing. It also allows you to think of the object or idea in a whole new way.