What Thing Is Love?

What thing is love? for sure I am it is a thing,
It is a prick, it is a thing, it is a prettie, prettie thing.
It is a fire, it is a coale, whose flame creeps in at every hoale.
And as my wits do best devise,
Loves dwelling is in Ladies eies.

-The Wisdom of Doctor Dodypoll, an anonymous play (1600)

Love Metaphors - Metaphor Examples of Love

Examples of Love metaphors:


Love is a nutrient: I am starved for love.

Love is a journey: It’s been a long, bumpy road.

Love is a unity of parts: We’re as one. They’re breaking up. We’re inseparable.

Love is a bond: There is a close tie between them.

Love is a fluid in a container: She was overflowing with love.

Love is fire: I am burning with love.

Love is an economic exchange: I’m putting more into this than you are.

Love is a natural force: She swept me off my feet.

Love is a physical force: I was magnetically drawn to her.

Love is an opponent: She tried to fight her feelings of love.

Love is a captive animal: She let go of her feelings.

Love is war: She conquered him. Love is insanity: I am crazy about you.

Love is a social superior: She is completely ruled by love.

Love is rapture/a high: I have been high on love for weeks.

The object of love is a small child: Well, baby, what are we gonna do?

The object of love is a deity: Don’t put her on a pedestal. He worships her.

-Zoltán Kövecses: Metaphor and Emotion in The Cambridge Handbook of Metaphor and Thought

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