Metaphor: “An implied analogy which imaginatively identifies one object with another and ascribes to the first object one or more of the qualities of the second or invests the first with emotional or imaginative qualities associated with the second” (Holman, A Handbook to Literature, 4^th ed., 264). Metaphor may be analyzed in terms of tenor, the idea to be conveyed, and vehicle, the image or term of comparison. In “he is a pig,” “he,” or, really, his bad characteristics are the tenor, and “pig” is the vehicle.

Simile: A metaphor in which “both tenor and vehicle are clearly expressed and are joined by an indicator of resemblance, ‘like’ or ‘as’” (Holman 418).

Epic simile: “An elaborated comparison. The epic simile differs from an ordinary simile in being more involved, more ornate, and a conscious imitation of the Homeric manner. The secondary object or vehicle is developed into an independent aesthetic object, an image which for the moment excludes the primary object or tenor with which it is compared” (Holman 162). For example, an ordinary simile would be “Achilles swooped down on Hector like a falcon diving on a dove.” Homer makes an epic simile out of this idea: “You have seen a falcon . . . .(Illiad XXII, NA 177). An even better example of the vehicle becoming “an independent aesthetic object” is in the Aeneid, I.148-156, NA 934-35 (201-210 in NA’s line numbering), where the comparison of the seas calming down in response Neptune’s command to a riotous crowd settling down in response to an authoritative leader is probably meant to make Virgil’s audience think of the way Augustus brought peace to troubled Rome.