A metaphor is a figure of speech that identifies something as being the same as some

unrelated thing for rhetorical effect, thus highlighting the similarities between the two.
While a simile compares two items, a metaphor directly equates them, and does not use
"like" or "as" as does a simile. One of the most commonly cited examples of a metaphor
in English literature is the "All the world's a stage" monologue from As You Like It