Everyone is asleep and quiet, even the animals. Sometimes the night is the quietest time of all. The sun always sets and the moon will rise, whether you want it or not. Darkness will come each day whether we like it or not. But we understand this metaphor because it makes sense in a figurative way. It gives the dark sentient qualities: that it can somehow behave like a human. This metaphor is a type of metaphor called personification. They will come and be there even if you don’t want them in your life. Darkness Imposes ItselfĪ person who imposes themselves does not give you a choice. But there’s a sense of similarity here when the light rays almost punch through blackness to reveal the landscape to us. Of course, darkness cannot ‘break’ per se, as it’s not a physical object. This is a saying that you might use at sunrise when the sun casts its first few rays upon the landscape. Before you know it, you’re engulfed in the dark. You sometimes feel like it’s not moving and just standing still, but in reality it is moving inch by inch toward you. It makes us think of a lion or tiger that gets down low and moves in a really smooth motion toward you. You can sit and feel it slowly and steadily take over from the light. The ‘creeping darkness’ is a common way to describe dusk.

Of course, darkness is not literally a blanket, but because it could feel like you’re lying under a blanket, we can use this metaphorically to provide an image in the reader’s mind. An enormous blanket made by God begins to descend and lay itself out over the landscape. Imagine sitting on a hill looking out over the sunset. For example, your protagonist might be escaping imprisonment under the cover of darkness. This metaphor might be used in a situation where the darkness is good for the protagonist. To consider darkness to be a ‘cover’ makes us think that perhaps darkness does not simply blind you, but also protects you. The cover of darkness is very similar to the veil of darkness concept above. For example, you might say “the veil of darkness obscured his ability to see his target.” 2. In everyday language, we will usually phrase this metaphor as “the veil of darkness”, and use it when describing someone who is being hindered by the night. The most obvious feature that connects darkness to veils is that they both obscure our vision.

Perhaps the most common darkness metaphor, this one relates darkness to the concept of having something pulled down over your eyes.

Dark of the moon is darker than the sky