Comparative Metaphor Library

Similar images. Different relationships.
Compare what moves, what holds, who acts and who can cross a boundary.

The Comparative Metaphor Library brings related images together for close reading. A wall, a loop and a waiting room may all appear in accounts of limited progress, while arranging that experience differently. A boat may be rowed, carried by water or held at a mooring. A room may shelter someone, confine them or mark a place of belonging.

Each article includes comparison tables, documented expressions, named literary examples and questions for discussion. The groupings are editorial reading routes through the wiki. They describe relationships in words and stories rather than assigning fixed meanings to objects.

Choose a comparison

Being stuck
Obstruction, repetition, effort and deferred departure.
Agency and motion
Propulsion, direction, restraint and the ability to stop.
Inside and outside
Shelter, access, confinement and membership.

The three illustrations are original AI-generated editorial images of imagined scenes. Their file pages record their source and creation date.

Start with a distinction

When comparing...	Notice...	Begin here
Working hard and getting somewhere	Effort, repetition and changed position can differ.	Being Stuck: Barriers, Loops and Waiting
Travelling and choosing a route	A traveller, source of movement and controller can be different elements.	Agency and Motion: Moving and Being Moved
Being inside and belonging	Physical presence, permission and acceptance need separate descriptions.	Inside and Outside: Shelter, Confinement and Belonging
An original expression and its translation	A similar meaning may be conveyed through a different image.	Metaphor Across Languages and Cultures

Follow the connections

From obstruction to access

Begin with Being Stuck: Barriers, Loops and Waiting, then read Inside and Outside: Shelter, Confinement and Belonging. A wall across a route and a wall around a refuge share a structure but have different relationships to the people in the account. Continue through Brick Walls, Doors, Gates and Thresholds and Locks and Keys.

From effort to control

Move from Being Stuck: Barriers, Loops and Waiting to Agency and Motion: Moving and Being Moved. Compare making an effort, changing position and selecting a destination. Wheels, Treadmills and Roundabouts, Ships and Anchors and Moorings develop the physical imagery.

From control to belonging

Read Agency and Motion: Moving and Being Moved beside Inside and Outside: Shelter, Confinement and Belonging. Compare who opens a gate, who passes through it and whether entry changes their relationship to the people inside. Houses, Rooms and Hidden Spaces, Fences, Boundaries and Borders and Echoes, Silence and Unheard Voices extend the route.

Keep a comparison useful

Select a short passage and retain its original wording. Identify what the text states about position, movement, access and sequence. Put any paraphrase beside it so readers can see what changed.

A dictionary documents a conventional sense; a literary work supplies a particular telling; the comparison proposes a way of reading them together. The articles keep those contributions visible. Invented sentences are labelled as examples, and the questions concern the chosen text rather than presumed meanings in another person's experience.

For a fuller record of wording, sources, translations and uncertainties, use the comparison record. The Presentation Companion Library provides routes for reading alongside Society sessions.

Related collections and subjects