Metaphors as SVO equations
I'm reading Farnsworth's book on Classic English Metaphors and I’m starting to understand metaphors and similes as SVO equations (Subject, Verb, Object).
Some of them are straightforward and simple:
“A professor must have a theory, as a dog must have fleas” : SVO = SVO (or, 2(SVO)).
“Her voice was thin like the buzzing of a mosquito” : SV = VS.
Then some of them lose their symmetry and add adjectives and prepositions to add complexity.:
“To talk to those imps about justice and mercy, would have been as absurd as to reason with bears and tigers” : vSo^2 = vS^2
“Harry, champion, by acclimation, of the college heavy-weights, broad-shouldered, bull-necked, square-jawed, six feet and trimmings, a little science, lots of pluck, good-nature as a steer in peace, formidable as a red-eyed bison in the crack of hand-to-hand battle.” : Sa^11 = aSa
And of course, since many of these examples come from English writing in the 1600s-1800s, there are a few that are quite complex:
“If the typical criminal is degenerate, bound to swindle or to murder by as deep seated an organic necessity as that which makes the rattlesnake bite, it is idle to talk of deterring him by the classical method of improvement.” : aS1n, aV2 (=a^2 n=) S2V + VS1pan