It is important to have metaphors in poetry because the reader can then see what the poet

means and feels. A metaphor is a comparison between two unlike things that have something in

common. A metaphor helps the writer create a verbal picture that helps the reader to see ideas

more clearly. It helps the writer convey his or feeling more strongly. Typically, a metaphor

asserts that one thing is another or suggests that the one acts like the other in some way.

In the poem, Swan Song, the author calls the mast of the gillnetter a "crazy metronome

cutting the air."� A metronome helps a musician keep exact tempo by the clicking metal arm that

moves back and forth. This helps the reader see how the gillnetter looks in the water. The title of

the poem supports the idea of a repeated metaphor related to music. A swan is known to sing just

before it dies. It is also been said that a swan song is the farewell appearance of a performer who

is retiring. The man on the rock can be seen and understood as the audience, watching the two

fisherman perform their last farewell.

A metaphor has the power to call up impressive visual images. In the poem, T-Bar, the

poet describes the mountain scene by calling it "haemophilic snow."� A haemophilic is a person

who bleeds easy causing them to look pale or white. So the reader now gets a visual picture of

what the mountain looks like. The poet describes the skiers that are riding up the t-bar to

"Somnambulists."� A Somnambulist is a sleepwalker. The poet illustrates the skiers as a bride and

groom. He does this so we verbally see what that would look like.

A metaphor has the power to stir feelings. The Ice-Floes is another poem where the

author uses metaphor. He describes the seal hunters racing across the ice after the baby seals as

travelling with "the speed of hounds on a caribou's track"� By doing this it adds to the intensity of

the situation or to engage our emotions. The author illustrates "the night had swallowed all

signals, the whistle, the flare and the smoke."� The hunters felt that all help was gone or was

swallowed by the night.

In all three poems, the author illustrates to us the use of metaphors. The authors have taken each

poem and given us information with which he compared what was happening with the look of the

surroundings. They are full and rich in information which is needed to fully understand the

experience of what is happening in each poem. Metaphors are often rich in symbols, complex

and full of meaning. They come from the unconscious and describe in full detail that unconscious

experience. They carry information between symbols and the meanings symbols. Each symbols

can be unique to that individual experience as seen here in each poem.