A metaphor is when you compare two things that are not the same but share some of the same characteristics. For example, you might say that someone’s laugh is like a song, or that life is like a rollercoaster. Metaphors can be used to make a situation easier to understand or to make a point in a more interesting way. For example, if you wanted to explain what it feels like to be really nervous about something, you might say that your stomach feels like a pit of snakes. This is a metaphor because we know that snakes don’t actually live in your stomach! Fun fact: The longest metaphor ever used in a poem is in the epic poem Paradise Lost by John Milton, which is over 10,000 words long!