Question

Choose one metaphor from this poem and explain why it is a metaphor, what the comparison means, and why you think the author chose to make this comparison.

What is the Sun?
By Wes Magee
The Sun is an orange dinghy
sailing across a calm sea

It is a gold coin dropped
down a drain in Heaven

It is a red thumb-print
on a sheet of pale blue paper.

Answer 1

"It is a gold coin dropped

down a drain in Heaven"

The comparison means that it's sort of like a golden coin that someone had dropped down a sink drain on an accident, but someone dropped it down the drain in heaven and it has now landed in the sky of the Earth.

I think the author chose to make this comparison because the sun is yellow and it is sort of a golden color and it is sort of common for things to be dropped down the drain. Therefore, it is like a golden coin going down the drain of heaven and into the sky.