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crash metaphor

Device
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A metaphor that abruptly juxtaposes incongruous images to create shock or insight

Detailed Definition
Crash metaphor is a violent or abrupt figurative comparison that juxtaposes incongruous elements to convey shock, rupture, or transformation; characterized by its jarring syntax and visceral imagery—such as “her silence crashed like glass”—this device disrupts poetic flow to mirror psychological or social upheaval, forcing the reader to confront dissonance as a source of meaning.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy,” the crash metaphor appears: “A man in black with a Meinkampf look / And a love of the rack and the screw”; In Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est,” gas attack is rendered as a crash metaphor: “As under a green sea, I saw him drowning”; In Hart Crane’s “The Bridge,” industrial collapse is a crash metaphor for lost idealism; In Audre Lorde’s “Coal,” silence breaking is a crash metaphor: “I am black because I come from the earth’s inside”.
Additional Notes
crash metaphor: A metaphor based on collision or violent clash; conveys sudden intensity or disruption.
Also Known As
Collision metaphor Smash trope Impact figure
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