Metaphors - Mixed, Sustained and Unexpected

I first came across the phrase Guitar God when it was used to describe Eric Clapton and it struck a chord in me (pun intended:)). Eric Clapton is number two in Rolling Stones list of greatest guitarists of all time and if you listen to him enough, you will understand why!

I am Hindu by religion and we are used to having multiple Gods. Heck! Each of us even invent some of our own Gods. It is even conceivable that at some point in time, there were more Gods (and demons) than humans, for, aren't all humans just Gods that have fallen from grace or demons who have stepped up?

And I think that I have all sorts of Gods in my life: I have guitar Gods, flute Gods and word Gods.

Today, I want to talk about my word Gods, Master Wordsmiths or Super Scriveners - take your pick. 

I have a great pantheon of Word Gods but my holy trinity is P.G. Wodehouse, J.R.R. Tolkien and Stephen King. As a logophile, these are the altars where I worship.

I will begin with Wodehouse. When I was younger and started reading Wodehouse, my father used to tell me to learn to appreciate the humor in the language more than the story or the dialog. He was the first one to introduce me to the phrase sustained metaphor. Here is a good definition. And Wodehouse excelled in them.

Let us look at some examples. 

The cruise ship steward in The Luck of the Bodkins (an amazingly hilarious book by the way), an irrepressible gabber,  talks about his mother several times. Once, he says that she was incapable of finding her spectacles on an iceberg. 

And a little later:

The steward looked lugubrious,  as if he had just peeped through one of the portholes, and found his mother stranded on an iceberg. 

That was over a longer interlude in the story. Sometimes, he does it in a single sentence:

Having no further revelations to make, the vicar's daughter popped off.

Or:

The pastor reacted as if he had discovered erastianism in the community.

The other type of metaphors that he used often were mixed metaphors. You would almost miss them if not for the way the characters reacted to those.

Some great examples:

"He has got cold feet, the worm!" - Stephanie Byng

I could have crushed her here by pointing out that worms don't have feet - Bertie Wooster

And again:

"You are a snake in the grass who goes behind people's backs stealing their girls from them." - Tuppy Glossop

"No, no!" I said surprised on learning that this is what snakes did - Bertie Wooster 

And again:

I wonder the food didn't turn to ashes in our mouths! Eggs! Muffins! Sardines! All wrung from the bleeding lips of the starving poor!"

Oh, I say! What a beastly idea!"

Unexpected Metaphors - I love these as well. Some examples:

A gust of compassion shook me. (This is most likely Bertie Wooster - and a great pun too since gusts are supposed to shake us too)

My soul writhed in agony, like an electric fan.

The thought stirred me up like an egg whisk.

As all good cooks go, she went! (I love the unexpectedness of the second part, as there is always one).

He was as broke as the Ten commandments

This from Hot Water:

Lady Beatrice - "I wish you would go to more picture galleries and plays. They are so good for you."

Packy: "Yes they are. I can feel my soul swelling like a poisoned pup." (This is my favorite - apparently all those plays didn't do much good to his language).

And how about his own metaphors? I once read a review about Wodehouse as the only author to have three original metaphors per chapter. Here are some of my favorites:

She turned him down like a bedspread. 

She gave him a look that curled him up like a carbon paper. 

The Butler entered the room, a solemn procession of one.

I will end it with a couple of my personal favorites: 

She blushed like the explosion of a tomato canning factory at sunset.

She had a voice like thick rich cream made audible.

"In a hundred years' time `the kind of man who reads P.G. Wodehouse for pleasure may become synonymous with an extravagantly fastidious taste. And that indeed is as it should be." - Evelyn Waugh