I thought I wasn't too bad but...

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Well I started an English course and I totally suck at the whole metaphor, simile and prose stuff... I know people with AS are meant to struggle with this but my mind just can't figure it out!

I have never considered myself to be too badly affected by AS but now I am wondering if it is just not so strong in some areas because I am a girl... We read a poem and had to answer questions. One question regarded a sentence 'a few fat raindrops began to fall, threatening more to come'. Now the story is about an arranged marriage. Somehow all of my NT classmates worked out that the rain is significant to the marriage... HOW? IT'S JUST RAIN!! !?

Yeah, can you see why I'm getting confused? Anyone else managed to overcome this problem?

I've often had problems with things like that-in fact I failed my English Comp course and haven't been back to college since due to it.

The last straw was him having us read this really bizarre story that no one in the class understood, and we were all lost. Then he gave us another that was super easy, and we were to write an essay giving it some other meaning essentially, as well as quoting things from the story to show why our theory was logical. They were both full of symbolism, but one was just a lot easier than the other because it stated several times what it was talking about.

I didn't see that one as challenging enough... so opted for the one no one understood. I finally came up with my idea after reading the story over and over and over and over and over for days on end, and wrote it all out. I was so proud of myself... then I got a big fat D- because the teacher didn't agree with my opinion or perception of what it could be about. I dropped out after asking him about how my grade was doing overall right after that.

Poems with stuff like that in them have always been hard. I did figure out a trick though... if you can "connect the dots" in a way... say, with the one you gave.

Well, the thing is about marriage mostly, so it must tie in with marriage somehow. Sift through things you've heard, stock phrases, things in movies, etc.... is rain on a wedding day ever a good sign as far as the superstitions and all go? So the rain must be a problem, and if the drops are getting bigger and bigger, then the problem is getting bigger and bigger. Since the marriage is the topic of the poem, and the raindrops are likely symbolizing a problem, then likely the marriage is going to have problems that keep getting bigger and bigger or already has problems that are getting bigger and bigger.

Does that make sense?

The words themselves make very little sense, and I would usually see them as a separate thing too, most likely, or I'd say "that would suck for it to rain that much on a day like that", but I wouldn't make that connection likely until the teacher asked... then you know the teacher is looking for some symbolic meaning, so you can begin the "connect the dot" process.

It's pathetic fallacy.

A bad omen here or a sign of bad luck. Rain on a wedding day.

Often this image occurs in songs too.
Rain's often associated with bad fortune, crying.
If there's a gathering storm it's usually about anger.

In songs sunshine = happiness (beaming smiles) and rain = sadness (crying) usually.

It's a cultural thing.

I heard that it was GOOD luck to have rain on your wedding day. Not that it really matters, but because I am AS I had to say it. Why can't I just keep this kind of thing to myself? It irritates the hell out of my DH sometimes. Something about being a "know-it-all"...

Last edited by peacenik on 14 Oct 2009, 4:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I experience the same things, especially in music. I know and love a ton of music, but I couldn't really tell you, given a specific one, what on earth the lyrics are trying to say. I don't feel too bad about this, though, because normally, when I do figure out what they're talking about, I'm disappointed. The mystery is more interesting.

As far as figuring it out for yourself, ambereyes has the right idea. Memorize common metaphors. Take note of ancillary details that may have deeper meaning. Lots of times, authors will mention something completely pointless, in an attempt to provide deeper knowledge of setting or foreshadowing of some sort. If you see a sentence or phrase that the writing would be "just as good" without, from a factual perspective, there's probably a reason for it being there.

Unfortunately, in some cases, a phrase carries dual (or more) meaning, like in the case you provided. Hopefully, these multiple meanings may be more apparent if you have a good working knowledge of metaphors. I'm sure you could google "common metaphors" and see some interesting stuff, there.

Personally, I don't understand metaphors. What they mean, how they're supposed to mean that, why anyone would use them (especially since English has about 1 million words), etc..
Similes, however, make perfect sense. It's a comparison.

I take metaphors literally usually, and sometimes I understand (specially when I know that is a metaphor... when I don't know that it is a metaphor I am most likely to pick it literally).

But I can understand most puns (maybe because I love making puns too)

studying symbolism to use in my own art helped me out alot with all that stuff.

Thanks for the advice! All useful. I'm going to buy a GCSE study guide soon to help me through this! I'm not going to drop out... agian...

See metaphor as a picture language, and learn to "read" it, and you'll be okay. I'm auty, and I have a degree in English literature.

As AmberEyes says, it's a cultural thing. In Ireland there's an expression, "happy the bride the sun shines on, happy the corpse the rain rains on." (I know, we're weird.) The idea being that if the marriage is going to be happy, the sun shines, and if the dead person was loved the very heavens weep.

Yes, it's a load of superstitious old tosh, but knowledge of such cultural norms helps you translate metaphor.

Another example, I personally love snakes. They're beautiful, their skin feels incredible, they move with supple grace.

However, most people have negative connotations of snakes. So if I were to describe someone as snake like, meaning that they were sinuous or graceful, the metaphor would be empty of meaning... everyone would think I was insulting the person I referred to as snakelike.

The example you quoted included the word "threatening." That shows you a clue as to how the metaphor should be read... the rain here is negative.

In another poem, rain might be positive. For example... "the quality of mercy is not strained, it droppeth as the gentle dew from heaven, unto to the earth beneath." In this the rain is seen as as an example of grace or mercy. (Rather ironically, of course, given the ungracious and unmerciful attitude of the speaker to the addressee, but that's a different matter.)

I have never Metaphor I didn't like.

You have never carried a meaning that you didn't like?

Or you have never met a phor that you didn't like?

I've never met a phor, nor would I recognise one if I did, and I've never carried a meaning... though I have carried a child.

We all have our crosses to bare.

It is a good book analogy.

What is a Meta Phor?!

How can they judge you as "wrong" when the whole interpretation thing is subjective anyways? Usually with good stories the writer themselves doesn't have a simple interpretation, at least not consciously. I thought metaphors are supposed to add something that can't be expressed in literal terms. They're not supposed to be there just to confuse the reader by forcing the reader to solve a riddle.

No. A metaphorical statement simply replaces what can be said in a literal sense.
Like choosing to paint in reds and blues instead of just drawing in black ink. (See that? I just made a metaphor.)
It's simply an alternative method of expressing an idea. Sometimes this alternative method requires greater skill on behalf of the reader to interpret but metaphors are typically NOT subjective (which is why a previous poster got a poor grade; the result of misinterpreting a metaphor).