Subject index

Browse the library by subject. An article may appear under several subjects. For linguistic types of metaphor, see Metaphor Categories.

Explore the illustrated Metaphor Atlas for visual starting points and connected reading routes. The Comparative Metaphor Library brings subjects together to compare barriers, repeated movement, agency, shelter and belonging.

Thematic Reading Routes: Stories, Idioms and Movement connects stories, physical images and language through five ordered comparisons.

Earth, landscape and place

• Containers
• Houses, Rooms and Hidden Spaces
• Islands, Castaways and Exile
• Elevation
• Hurts
• Tunnels
• Rocks
• Valleys
• Hills and Mountains
• Fields
• Fields and Field Idioms - practitioner commentary
• Paths and Trails
• Crossroads, Detours and Dead Ends
• Brick Walls
• Swamps
• Beaches & Shorelines
• Garden of Eden
• Dungeons
• Mazes and Labyrinths
• Fences, Boundaries and Borders
• Foundations and Ground
• Pits, Holes and Trenches

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Air and weather

• The Firmament
• Atmospheres
• Echoes, Silence and Unheard Voices
• Tornados & Whirlwinds
• Hurricanes and Gales
• Vacuums
• Flight
• Clouds
• Ice, Snow and Frozen Landscapes
• Fog and Mist

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Fire, heat and light

• Deserts
• Volcanoes
• Pressure, Compression and Explosion
• On Fire
• Lightning
• The Sun
• Light, Darkness and Visibility

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Water

• Swallowed by a Fish/Whale
• Fish Gods
• Aquatic Gods
• Rivers and Civilisations
• Oceans
• Islands, Castaways and Exile
• Lakes
• Rain
• Wells
• Goldfish Bowl
• Currents, Tides and Undertows
• Floods, Dams and Breaking Banks

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Spirit, death and the unseen

• The Astral Plane
• Gottfried Leibniz Ontological Proof
• The Living Death Metaphor
• Rainbows
• Ghosts
• Graveyards
• Shadows
• The Hermit, Lanterns and Solitude

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Beings, creatures and nature

• Monsters
• Angels
• Demons
• People
• Leeches
• Trees
• Metamorphosis, Cocoons and Shedding Skins
• Dogs

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Body and anatomy

• Feet and Ankles
• Hands
• Head and Neck
• Chest
• Shoulders
• Heart
• Clothing, Shoes and Armour

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Movement and transport

• Trains
• Ships
• Cars
• Rockets
• Falling
• Gravity, Balance and Support
• Clocks, Seasons and Waiting Rooms
• Bridges
• Maps, Compasses and Lost Bearings
• Stairs and Ladders
• Anchors and Moorings
• Wheels, Treadmills and Roundabouts

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Objects, constraints and resources

• Obstructions
• Poisons
• Tables
• Food, Hunger and Nourishment
• Ties and Binds
• Burdens
• Gravity, Balance and Support
• Pressure, Compression and Explosion
• Clocks, Seasons and Waiting Rooms
• Marionettes
• Money
• Doors, Gates and Thresholds
• Nets, Webs and Traps
• Locks and Keys
• Mirrors and Reflections

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Scale, distance and movement

• Scale and Proportion: Shrinking, Looming and Being Dwarfed - relative size, fit and viewpoint
• Distance and Proximity: Closeness, Separation and Reach - nearness, boundaries and access
• Speed, Pace and Momentum - rate, effort, direction and control
• Fictive Motion: When Stationary Things Move - motion language for stationary scenes

Sound, rhythm and humour

• Music, Rhythm and Harmony - coordination, recurring patterns and musical imagery
• Metaphor and Humour - comic comparisons, puns and changes of interpretation

Literary journeys

• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - changing size, access, direction and word play
• The Pilgrim's Progress - burdens, paths and gates in Bunyan's Christian allegory
• The Odyssey - voyages, restraint, homecoming and recognition

Fairy tales and cultural language

• Fairy Tales, Idioms and Everyday Speech - documented expressions, quotations, allusions and reading routes
• Reading Fairy Tales: Archetypes, Motifs and Narrative Roles - versions, narrative roles, archetypes and close reading
• Cinderella
• Little Red Riding Hood
• Rumpelstiltskin
• Goldilocks and the Three Bears
• The Emperor's New Clothes
• The Ugly Duckling
• The Little Mermaid
• The Red Shoes

• Snow White
• The Frog Prince
• Jack and the Beanstalk
• Puss in Boots
• The Princess and the Pea
• The Snow Queen
• The Fisherman and His Wife
• The Twelve Dancing Princesses

• The Three Little Pigs
• The Elves and the Shoemaker
• The Brave Little Tailor
• The Bremen Town Musicians
• Thumbelina
• The Wild Swans
• The Steadfast Tin Soldier
• The Little Match Girl

• Aladdin
• Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
• Vasilisa the Beautiful
• The Firebird
• Momotaro
• Urashima Taro
• The Tongue-Cut Sparrow
• The Nightingale

• The Goose Girl
• Mother Holle
• Iron Hans
• East of the Sun and West of the Moon
• The Bamboo-Cutter and the Moon-Child
• Stone Soup
• Sweet Porridge
• The Sorcerer's Apprentice
• Fairy-Tale Motif Index

Other ways to browse

• Stories and literature
• Concepts and language
• People and authors
• Idioms A-Z
• All articles A-Z