A metaphor is a figure of speech that makes an indirect comparison. Unlike a simile -- a direct comparison --, which uses the support words "as" or "like", a metaphor does not use any support words. It simply states that thing A is thing B, instead of thing A is like thing B. For example:

- Your eyes are like stars. -- simile

- Your eyes are stars. -- metaphor

The purpose of a metaphor is to attribute the characteristics of one thing to another by comparing them, even if in reality they are not similar at all. When I say someone's eyes are stars, I don't mean it literally, of course. I refer to their beautiful brightness.

That is precisely what Douglass does in all three examples in the question. Slavery does not literally have bitter dregs. It is not a dark night. The vessels were not ghosts. Douglass is making these indirect comparisons to attribute characteristics of one thing to the other. On dark nights, we can feel scared, lost, hopeless. By saying slavery is a dark night, Douglass may mean slavery made him feel that way.

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3 years ago