Hi, Smile, I love how you say that: "intangibles are best described through tangibles." Yes! That IS the creation of a metaphor, isn't it? I love a William Carlos Williams' quote, too: “No ideas but in things.” It IS that simple, in a way, in that it's a matter of describing an intangible feeling (loss, alienation, love, hate, death) by using tangible "things." And these tangible things can be absolutely anything.

Here's an exercise that some of you might like to try. Below, is a list of abstract ideas that, in one way or another, are the ideas that most of us are writing about, in one form another. For each of these abstract ideas, try to come up with concrete, tangible words ("things") that embody the idea. For example, you could use the words "formaldehyde," "moth balls," or "lilacs" to describe the abstract concept of "death." List all the tangible words you can think of to describe the following:

Love:
Death:
Self:
Soul:
Rage:
Evil:
Pain:
Hunger:
Peace:
War: