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Literary Devices

Metaphor
Definition of Metaphor

Metaphor is a figure of speech that makes an implicit, implied, or hidden comparison between two things that are unrelated, but which share some common characteristics. In other words, a resemblance of two contradictory or different objects is made based on a single or some common characteristics.

In simple English, when you portray a person, place, thing, or an action as being something else, even though it is not actually that “something else,” you are speaking metaphorically. For example, the phrase, “My brother is the black sheep of the family,” is a metaphor because he is not a sheep, nor is he black. However, we can use this comparison to describe an association of a black sheep with that person. A black sheep is an unusual animal, which typically stays away from the herd, and the person being described shares similar characteristics.

Furthermore, a metaphor develops a comparison that is different from a simile, in that we do not use “like” or “as” to develop a comparison in a metaphor. It actually makes an implicit or hidden comparison and not an explicit one.
Common Speech Examples of Metaphors

Most of us think of a metaphor as a device used in songs or poems only, and that it has nothing to do with our everyday life. In fact, all of us in our routine life speak, write, and think in metaphors. We cannot avoid them. Metaphors are sometimes constructed through our common language, and they are called “conventional metaphors.”

For instance, calling a person a “night owl,” or an “early bird,” or saying “life is a journey,” are common examples of metaphors heard and understood by most of us. Below are some more conventional metaphors we often hear in our daily lives:

My brother was boiling mad. (This implies he was too angry.)
The assignment was a breeze. (This implies that the assignment was not difficult.)
It is going to be clear skies from now on. (This implies that clear skies are not a threat and life is going to be without hardships)
The skies of his future began to darken. (Darkness is a threat; therefore, this implies that the coming times are going to be hard for him.)
Her voice is music to his ears. (This implies that her voice makes him feel happy)
He saw the soul of dust when passing through the dust storm.
Chaos is the breeding ground of order.
War is the mother of all battles.
Her dance is a great poem.
A new road to freedom passes through this valley of death.
My conscience is my barometer.
His white face shows his concern.
His kisses are like roses.
He married her to have a trophy wife.
Laughter is the best medicine.
Words are daggers when spoken in anger.
His words are pearls of wisdom.

"Metaphor."

This does not accord with the reaction of Jesus' hearers at the time, nor with the understanding and practice of the Church everywhere --- Europe, Asia, Africa ---until the Northwest European breakup in the 16th century.

Did any Christian believe the Mass was in contradiction to the NT until the 16th or 17th century? Might you let me know?

At the time of the initial Bread of Life Discourse (John 6), the crowds are disturbed at Jesus' words, interpret them as real and shocking. "This saying is hard, who can accept it?"

Jesus notes this, and does he finesse it in a literary genre kind of way?

No, He doubles down. "I tell you, my Flesh is real food and by Blood real drink." (Literary device, eh?) He even switches verbs, so the verb He uses goes from just "eat" (phago) to the way an animal eats meat (trogo). The word trogo means “to gnaw, to chew,” and it is used nowhere else in the New Testament, except in John 6:54, and 56-58.

Note: Jesus doesn't chase after them and say, "Wait! Stop! It's just a metaphor, you simpletons!"

No, he's all about "real" food and "real" drink and "Amen, amen, I say unto you." Then He turns to His closest disciples and says, "Do you want to go, too?"