"how many a poor immortal soul have I met well-nigh crushed and smothered under its load, creeping down the road of life, pushing before it a barn seventy-five feet by forty, its Augean stables never cleansed, and one hundred acres of land, tillage, mowing, pasture, and woodlot!"

why is this quote an example of a metaphor and hyperbole?

Question

"how many a poor immortal soul have I met well-nigh crushed and smothered under its load, creeping down the road of life, pushing before it a barn seventy-five feet by forty, its Augean stables never cleansed, and one hundred acres of land, tillage, mowing, pasture, and woodlot!"

why is this quote an example of a metaphor and hyperbole?

anonymous · Answer

@amscasey

anonymous · Answer

"the road of life" is a metaphor because life is not actually a road however it can be related to one.
Its a hyperbole because it the exaggeration in it, "poor immortal souls crushed and smothered by its load" This is not completely true in that a soul can not have a "load" on it, as it is not something physical, and its an exaggeration in saying they are smothered because of it.