Metaphor & Rhetoric Worksheet for 17‑Year‑Olds: John Evelyn’s Fumifugium, James E. Burke on Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, & Corbett’s Classical Rhetoric

Instructions

This worksheet explores the power of metaphor in persuasive writing across different historical contexts. Read the theoretical explanation and the excerpts from the historical texts carefully. Answer the questions that follow in the space provided, focusing on identifying the components of each metaphor and analyzing its intended effect on the reader.

Part 1: Understanding Metaphor

In his influential text, Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student, Edward P.J. Corbett defines metaphor as "an implied comparison between two things of unlike nature that yet have something in common." Metaphors are powerful because they transfer the qualities and associations of one thing onto another, shaping our perception and understanding.

A metaphor has two key parts:

• Tenor: The actual subject being described.
• Vehicle: The thing to which the subject is being compared.

Example: "All the world's a stage."

• Tenor: The world.
• Vehicle: A stage.

The metaphor works by transferring the qualities of a stage (a scripted performance, actors with roles, a finite duration) onto our understanding of the world and human life.

Quick Practice:

For the following sentence, identify the tenor and vehicle.

The politician's promises were a house of cards, ready to collapse at the slightest touch.

1. Tenor: __________________________________________________
2. Vehicle: _________________________________________________

Part 2: Metaphor in 17th-Century Environmentalism

John Evelyn's Fumifugium (1661) was one of the earliest essays written about London's severe air pollution crisis, caused primarily by the burning of sea-coal. He used powerful figurative language to persuade King Charles II to take action. Read the following excerpts and answer the questions.

Excerpt A: "...It is this horrid Smoake which obscures our Churches, and makes our Palaces look old, which fouls our Clothes, and corrupts the Waters, so as the very Rain, and refreshing Dews which fall in the several Seasons, precipitate this impure vapour, which, with its black and tenacious quality, spots and contaminates whatever is exposed to it."

Excerpt B: "That this Glorious and Antient City... should wrap her stately head in Clowds of Smoake and Sulphur, so full of Stink and Darknesse, I deplore."

Excerpt C: "...this Hellish and dismall Cloud of SEA-COALE... so universally mixed with the otherwise wholesome and excellent Aer, that her Inhabitants breathe nothing but an impure and thick Mist, accompanied with a fuliginous and filthy vapour..."

Analysis Questions:

3. In Excerpt B, Evelyn uses personification, a type of metaphor that gives human qualities to an inanimate object. What is the tenor and what is the vehicle in the phrase "wrap her stately head"?


4. In Excerpt C, identify the powerful metaphor used to describe the cloud of coal smoke.
   Tenor: ____________________________________________
   Vehicle: ___________________________________________


5. Analyze the effect of the metaphor in Excerpt C. What specific emotions and ideas does the vehicle ("Hellish and dismall Cloud") transfer to the tenor (the smog)? How does this strengthen Evelyn's argument?

Part 3: Metaphor in 20th-Century Environmentalism

In 1962, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring ignited the modern environmental movement by exposing the dangers of synthetic pesticides like DDT. Literary critic James E. Burke notes that Carson's persuasive power came from her masterful use of metaphor, particularly metaphors of warfare and poison. Read the following excerpts from Silent Spring and answer the questions.

Excerpt D: "For the first time in the history of the world, every human being is now subjected to contact with dangerous chemicals... These chemicals are the sinister and little-recognized partners of radiation in changing the very nature of the world—the very nature of its life. They should not be called 'insecticides,' but 'biocides.'"

Excerpt E: "We have subjected enormous numbers of people to contact with these poisons, without their consent and often without their knowledge... Can anyone believe it is possible to lay down such a barrage of poisons on the surface of the earth without making it unfit for all life? They should not be called insecticides, but biocides."

Excerpt F: "The chemical war is never won, and all life is caught in its violent crossfire."

Analysis Questions:

6. In Excerpt E, Carson describes the application of pesticides as a "barrage of poisons." What is the tenor and what is the vehicle?
   Tenor: ____________________________________________
   Vehicle: ___________________________________________


7. Analyze the effect of the metaphor in Excerpt F. By framing the use of pesticides as a "chemical war" with "violent crossfire," what does Carson imply about the nature of this conflict? Who are the casualties?


8. In both Excerpts D and E, Carson suggests changing the name of the chemicals from "insecticides" (insect-killers) to "biocides" (life-killers). While not a traditional metaphor, this renaming is a powerful rhetorical act. How does this word choice function like a metaphor to redefine the issue?

Part 4: Synthesis and Comparison

Consider the metaphorical strategies of both Evelyn and Carson, who were writing about environmental crises nearly 300 years apart.

9. Compare the primary vehicles used by Evelyn (e.g., Hell, darkness, filth) with those used by Carson (e.g., war, poison, biocides). How do their choices reflect the scientific understanding and cultural anxieties of their respective eras?

Answer Key

Part 1: Understanding Metaphor

1. Tenor: The politician's promises
2. Vehicle: A house of cards

Part 2: Metaphor in 17th-Century Environmentalism

3. Tenor: The City of London. Vehicle: A stately woman ("her... head"). The metaphor personifies the city, giving it a regal dignity that is being violated by the smog.
4. Tenor: The cloud of sea-coal smoke. Vehicle: A Hellish and dismall Cloud.
5. Suggested Answer: The vehicle "Hellish and dismall Cloud" transfers concepts of evil, damnation, suffering, and the demonic onto the smog. This elevates the problem from a mere physical nuisance to a profound moral and spiritual crisis. It suggests the pollution is not just unpleasant but is an active, malevolent force corrupting the city, thereby making the argument for its removal far more urgent and grave.

Part 3: Metaphor in 20th-Century Environmentalism

6. Tenor: The widespread application of pesticides. Vehicle: A barrage of poisons.
7. Suggested Answer: The "chemical war" metaphor implies that pesticide use is a violent, aggressive, and indiscriminate act of hostility. In a war, there are enemies, allies, and unavoidable collateral damage. The phrase "violent crossfire" powerfully suggests that all forms of life—not just the target pests—are innocent casualties. This framing turns a scientific or agricultural practice into a brutal conflict against nature itself, making the reader feel that life on Earth is under attack.
8. Suggested Answer: The shift from "insecticide" to "biocide" functions like a metaphor by forcing a re-evaluation of the subject's true nature. It argues that the "tenor" (the chemical substance) is not just an insect-killer but is better understood through the "vehicle" of a life-killer. It transfers the quality of total, indiscriminate destruction onto the chemicals, redefining them in the public mind and exposing what Carson believed was their true, devastating identity.

Part 4: Synthesis and Comparison

9. Suggested Answer: Evelyn's vehicles (Hell, sacrilege, darkness) are drawn from a religious and moral framework, reflecting a 17th-century worldview where civic problems were often understood in theological terms. His metaphors speak to anxieties about sin, divine order, and corruption. Carson's vehicles (war, poison, radiation's "sinister partner") are drawn from the major anxieties of the 20th century: the Cold War, chemical warfare, and the fear of invisible, scientific threats that can cause cancer and genetic damage. Her metaphors tap into a modern, secular fear of technological hubris and its unintended, catastrophic consequences. Each author chose the most resonant and frightening comparisons available in their culture to convey the severity of the environmental threat.