Poetry Terms: Metaphor

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

~"Hope"

by Emily Dickinson

Definition A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable. Which simply means to make a comparison without using connecting words, such as like, as, than, and resembles.
Example The poem above. Writing about hopes are like birds. Flying and sharing by singing.
Significance This is a important figure of speech for writing poem. It is a good way to solve when you have used too much connecting words in the literature work. Another way to be descriptive and creative by comparing things to things, which is a way of avoiding the truth if you don't like admitting. Also, it takes time to use this strategy to 'parfait' it.