Metaphor
A comparison that calls one thing another to suggest a shared quality, without using like or as.
A metaphor fuses two unlike things so that the qualities of one illuminate the other. Writers use metaphor to compress meaning, create surprise, and make the abstract vivid. Because it claims identity rather than mere resemblance, a metaphor often feels bolder than a simile.
Example
Calling the grim industrial stretch a “valley of ashes” turns a landscape into a metaphor for moral decay and the wreckage beneath the era’s glamour.
The Great Gatsby · F. Scott Fitzgerald
See it in action
Analyses on StoryBites that use metaphor: