What is a trope, and how does it differ from a metaphor? [closed]

Solution 1:

The word trope has shot to prominence in the last couple of decades...

And as this article points out, "Trope is the New Meme", which I read in two ways. Use of the word itself has become a meme (pattern of behavior that spreads throughout a culture). But also, the meaning of the word has shifted for many people. To quote from that article...

trope has to do with an agreed-upon narrative, an archetypal reading of a story or situation according to the simplest and most widely-held beliefs, a kind of narrative stereotype.

Or, as the excellent site tvtropes puts it...

tropes are devices and conventions that a writer can reasonably rely on as being present in the audience members' minds and expectations.

I actually studied literature over 40 years ago, but I can't say I remember us using the word in the "typical" dictionary sense as given by OED...

A figure of speech which consists in the use of a word or phrase in a sense other than that which is proper to it; also, in casual use, a figure of speech; figurative language.

So far as I'm concerned, if someone wants to use it like that, I'm not going to argue with them or their dictionaries. But most current usages are more in line with my first two definitions above.

Here's how tvtropes knits the two definitions together...

Merriam-Webster gives a definition of "trope" as a "figure of speech." In storytelling, a trope is just that — a conceptual figure of speech, a storytelling shorthand for a concept that the audience will recognize and understand instantly.

Solution 2:

It doesn't.
It's just another term for Metaphor, like myth, theory, meme, cultural value, or figure of speech.

Trope in particular comes from Latin, tropus 'a figure of speech',
from the Greek verb τρέπειν 'turn, direct, alter, change.'
Greek and Latin. That falutes really high.

So trope tends to be found in scholarly essays (especially about literature, where it's quite common as a term of art), and in the speech and writing of those who aspire to impress others with their vocabulary.