Metaphor and simile are two rhetorical figures that are commonly used to make concepts easier to understand through images. When we say “you are a star,” instead of explaining how much someone lights up the room, we are using a metaphor; if we call someone else “healthy as a fish,” we are using a simile. These are two “cousin” rhetorical figures, but with a little secret that distinguishes them: the simile makes the term of comparison explicit, it uses “is equal to/like/similar”; the metaphor implies it, without saying it clearly.
Simile: the clear comparison
Simile comes from Latin similitudo, -dĭnismeaning “similar”. We have a similarity when the comparison is obvious. Imagine you want to explain something complicated: the simile helps you by saying “it’s like this”. To create it, words like: similar to, like etc. are used. In Italian literature and music this rhetorical figure is particularly used, for example we find it in Saint Martin by Giosuè Carducci.
In these verses the flight of black birds is compared to the melancholy thoughts that migrate at sunset. The “come esuli” makes you feel the autumnal solitude. This rhetorical figure is also widely attested in classical literature, as we can see in Canto V ofOdyssey:
Here the joy of the castaway who sees dry land is compared to that of Ulysses: the “how” makes the emotion tangible and amplifies the sense of desperation. But the expressive effectiveness of the simile is such that even in music there are numerous examples: we find a powerful one in the Sanremo song Ash (2023), by Lazza, who inserts the expression “Help me disappear like ash” in the refrain.
Metaphor: the implied comparison
The word “metaphor” comes from Latin metaphora and from the Greek μεταφορά, which literally means “transfer”. Compared to the simile it is bolder: it avoids specifying the term of comparison, it merges two different levels of reality by saying “it’s exactly this”. In other words, skip the “how” and create powerful, clear images without needing to explain them. In sonnet 90 (RVF 90) of Songbook by Francesco Petrarca we read:
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The author uses “golden hair” to talk about shiny blonde hair blowing in the wind. No explanation needed: the image speaks for itself.
In Small star without sky Ligabue uses the metaphor to tell of a person who shines with his own light, but who has nothing around him that really supports him. There is no “heaven” that welcomes her. This makes you immediately feel its fragility, its loneliness, but at the same time makes it unique and unforgettable. The lack of that sky makes you understand how special and vulnerable it is at the same time. The metaphor makes us perceive all this without the need for explanations.
Likewise, in The song of the sun Lucio Battisti transforms your loved one into a real sun. It’s not just a description: it’s as if she were truly a source of light, warmth and passion. When she sings “I just thought you were the sun,” all those feelings—the joy, the longing, even the jealousy—merge into one powerful, immediate image. The metaphor here leaves no doubt: the person is not just compared to the sun, but is the sun itself, and the effect is so vivid that we immediately imagine it in our minds.
