The Power of Metaphor

Keep Me in your heart
Originally uploaded by avenue207

"The function of the heart became clear only after the invention of the pump. Indeed, as Jonathan Miller argues, the function of the heart became knowable only after the invention of the pump. Once people understood how a pump worked, they could use that knowledge to make sense of the heart’s function. With the advance of technology an analogy was provided which enabled understanding of things which were otherwise mysterious."

- Kieran Egan. Teaching as Story Telling. The Althouse Press: London, 1986 pg 31

This is exactly how metaphor works. It's not simply about comparing things for literary effect. We can't even seem to understand how things work without such comparisons. That is the power of metaphor.