Metaphor and simile they are two rhetorical figures that are commonly used to make concepts easier to understand through images. When we say «you are a star», instead of explaining how much someone lights up the room, we are using a metaphor; if we define someone else «healthy as a fish», we are using a simile. These are two “cousin” rhetorical figures, but with a little secret that distinguishes them: lwith explicit similarity the term of comparisonuse “is the same as/like/similar”; the metaphor implies itwithout saying it clearly.
Simile: the clear comparison
Similarity comes from Latin similitudo, -dĭnismeaning “similar”. We have a similarity when the comparison is obvious. Imagine you want to explain something complicated: the simile helps you by saying “it’s like this”. To create it, words like: similar to, like etc. are used. In the Italian literature and music this rhetorical figure is particularly used, for example we find it in Saint Martin Of Giosuè Carducci.
“flocks of black birds, like exiled thoughts migrating in the evening”
Giosuè Carducci
In these verses the flight of black birds is compared to the melancholy thoughts that migrate at sunset. The “come esuli” makes you feel the autumnal solitude. This rhetorical figure is also widely attested in classical literature, as we can see in Canto V ofOdyssey:
“How the land longs for shipwrecks, it appears to the swimmer who, tired from the whirlpool of Amphitrite, is pushed by the wave…”
Homer
Here the joy of the castaway who sees dry land is compared to that of Ulysses: the “how” makes the emotion tangible and amplifies the sense of desperation. But the expressive effectiveness of the simile is such that even in music there are numerous examples: we find a powerful one in the Sanremo song Ash (2023), by Lazzawho inserts the expression into the chorus “Help me disappear like ashes”.
Metaphor: the implied comparison
The word “metaphor” comes from Latin metaphora and from the Greek μεταφορά, which literally means “transfer”. Compared to the simile it is bolder: avoids specifying the term of comparison, merges two different levels of reality saying “this is it”. In other words, skip the “how” and creates powerful, clear images without needing to explain them. In the sonnet 90 (RVF 90) of Songbook Of Francesco Petrarca it reads:
They were the golden hairs in the aura scattered
Francesco Petrarca
.
The author uses “golden hair” to talk about shiny blonde hair blowing in the wind. No explanation needed: the image speaks for itself.
In Small star without sky Ligabue uses metaphor to tell about a person who shines with his own light, but who has nothing around him to really support him. There is no “heaven” that welcomes her. This makes you immediately feel its fragility, its loneliness, but at the same time makes it unique and unforgettable. The lack of that sky makes you understand how special and vulnerable it is at the same time. The metaphor makes us perceive all this without the need for explanations.
Likewise, in The song of the sun Lucio Battisti transforms your loved one into a real sun. It’s not just a description: it’s as if she was truly a source of light, warmth and passion. When he sings “I just thought you were the sun,” all those feelings (the joy, the desire, even the jealousy) blend into a single powerful and immediate image. The metaphor here leaves no doubt: the person is not just compared to the sun, but is the sun itself, and the effect is so vivid that we immediately imagine it in our mind.
