Metaphor in Folksong

Abstract

A metaphor is a figure of speech in which two things are equated with each other as identical, in distinction from a simile, in which the two things are said to be alike. As long ago as Aristotle wrote his Rhetoric it was pointed out that the poetic metaphor was intimately related to the riddle.' The true riddle-identified by that adjective to distinguish it from conundrums, sham riddles, etc. - is an extended statement, usually but not always in rhyme, giving information about an object the identity of which must be guessed.