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Movement 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 figurative expression using physical motion to describe abstract processes or emotions

Detailed Definition
Movement metaphor is a figurative expression that describes abstract experiences—thought, emotion, time—through verbs and images of physical motion, such as “racing thoughts” or “sinking despair”; by mapping bodily kinetics onto intangible phenomena, it renders internal states tangible, dynamic, and sensorially immediate for the reader.
Example
Example in poetry:
Shakespeare’s “My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar” uses heart movement to show grief; Dickinson’s “My life had stood—a Loaded Gun” equates existence with weaponized motion; In “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons” uses gesture to depict stagnation; Whitman’s “I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable” uses bodily assertion as metaphor
Additional Notes
Movement metaphors equate emotions or ideas with physical motion (e.g., “heart sank”); make abstract states tangible; common in lyric and dramatic poetry; choose original gestures to avoid cliché
Also Known As
Kinetic metaphor motion trope dynamic figure somatic analogy Kinesthetic metaphor
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