In mainstream literature, a trope is a figure of speech: metaphor, simile, irony, or the like. Words used other than literally. In SF, a trope - at least as I understand the usage - is more: science used other than literally.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I like to play with tropes.
A cliche is like a coin that has been handled too much. Once language has been overly handled, it no longer leaves a clear imprint.
Metaphor is embodied in language.
My poems always begin with a metaphor, but my way into the metaphor may be a word, an image, even a sound. And I rarely know the nature of the metaphor when I begin to write, but there is an attentiveness that a writer develops, a sudden alertness that is much like the feel of a fish brushing against a hook.
I've spoken often of how the fantasy genre is able to, with the greatest freedom among all the genres, take a metaphor and make it real. But of course that's only the starting point.
The transparency of a metaphor displays the glint of truth. But if a metaphor is taken for a reality, it then becomes dense and masks the truth it is meant to display.
Touching on universality is an important part of effective storytelling, but the problem with cliches is that they are tired and dull. And that's where writers must try to be artful.
If you want to use a cliche you must take full responsibility for it yourself and not try to fob it off on anon., or on society.
All slang is metaphor, and all metaphor is poetry.
Cliches are cliches because they are true.