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What Is The Metaphor In Audrey Lorde's Afterimages

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In the poem “Afterimages,” Audrey Lorde compares two seemingly different concepts in a metaphor in order to create a specific and significant feeling or idea. This expresses a distinctive identity when the cohesion of two different objects are used in a metaphor. Although most metaphors are commonplace and their meanings easily identified, such as “time is money” in which one “spends” or “earns” time, some metaphors require more thought and analysis in order to convey a specific meaning. In “Afterimages,” Lorde uses the equation EYES = CAVES when she quotes in lines 3-4 in section I, “my eyes rockstrewn caves where dragonfish evolve…” It is not particularly known at this moment why she equates her eyes to caves. By listing the semantic primitives of the words EYES and CAVES, it is possible to make a connection between the two words and convey the thoughts and feelings Lorde attempts to illustrate to the audience. Figure 1 below illustrates a list of semantic primitives that applies to both EYES and CAVES.
Figure 1. Lorde’s Equation for EYES = CAVES EYES = CAVES + HOLD +HOLD —MOVE —MOVE +WET +WET …show more content…

For the primitive +HOLD, it means that eyes and caves hold different things in different ways. Eyes hold images, such as the photographs displaying the mutilated body of Emmett Till on every street corner in the poem. The author holds these images in her mind just like everyone else, and the images of Till’s body are shown throughout the national and international news. Caves physically holds things, such as water, animals, plants and darkness, illustrating that the author’s eyes hold the images of the horrific murder and it feeds her thoughts like the environment of a cave feeds its inhabitants; unable to leave, but staying and growing stronger by the

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