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Reversed 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 comparison in which the usual direction of equivalence is inverted

Detailed Definition
Reversed metaphor inverts the conventional direction of figurative comparison—e.g., “the moon is a spotlight” becomes “the spotlight is the moon”—to defamiliarize perception and challenge hierarchical relationships between tenor and vehicle; this technique disrupts cliché and invites readers to reconsider assumed realities through syntactic surprise.
Example
Example in poetry:
Emily Dickinson: “Hope is the thing with feathers” reverses expected metaphor by making hope fragile; Sylvia Plath: “Dying / Is an art” reverses death as creative act; Wallace Stevens: “The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream” reverses imperial metaphor; W.H. Auden: “Stop all the clocks” reverses elegy into command.
Additional Notes
A reversed metaphor inverts expected imagery to surprise or critique (e.g., “Dying is an art”); students should examine how reversal reveals hidden truths or challenges cliché.
Also Known As
Inverted metaphor Contrapuntal image Subverted trope Reversed symbol Inverse metaphor
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