Simile and Metaphor

Figures of speech are broadly defined as a way of saying one thing in terms of
another. Poets frequently use them, because, as Emily Dickinson said, the poet's
job is to "Tell all the truth but tell it slant" in order to capture the reader's interest
and imagination.
The two most common figures of speech are simile and metaphor. Both compare
things that are ordinarily considered unlike each other. A simile makes an explicit
comparison between two things by using words such as like, as, than, appears, or
seems: "a sip of Mrs. Cook's coffee is like a punch in the stomach." The force of the
simile is created by the differences between the two things compared. There would
be no simile if the comparison were stated this way: "Mrs. Cook's coffee is as strong
as the cafeteria's coffee." This is a literal comparison because Mrs. Cook's coffee is
compared with something like it, another kind of coffee.
Look at the use of simile in this poem by Margaret Atwood:
you fit into me

a fish hook
an open eye

Metaphor

Thus, when we say, She is like an

angel we use a simile, but when
we say She is an angel, we use a
metaphor.

Examples are:

Life is a dream. (Metaphor)

The camel is the ship of

the desert. (Metaphor)

Life is like a dream.

(Simile)

Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale.

O my Loves like a red, red rose

Thats newly sprung in June;
O my Loves like a melodie
Thats sweetly played in tune.
Here are some similes common in
everyday speech.

as proud as a peacock

as cool as a cucumber

as hard as nails

as good as gold

as old as the hills

as clear as crystal

you fit into me

like a hook into an eye

A metaphor is an implied simile. It

doesnt state that one thing is like
another or acts as another.
Instead it says that the two things
are one and the same. A simile,
on the other hand, says that one
thing is like another.

Simile
In a simile we make a comparison
between two objects of different kinds.
These two objects will have at least one
point in common.
The righteous shall flourish as the palm
tree. (Here a comparison is made
between the righteous and the palm
tree.)

A metaphor, like a simile, makes a comparison between two unlike things, but it does
so implicitly, without words such as like or as: "Mrs. Cook's coffee is a punch in the
stomach." Metaphor asserts the identity of dissimilar things. Shakespeare's Macbeth
tells us that life is a "brief candle," life is a "walking shadow," life is a "tale / Told by an
idiot." Metaphors are frequently more demanding than similes because they are not
signaled by particular words. They are both subtle and powerful.
In the following poem by Langston Hughes, first similes and then a metaphor evoke
concrete images of African-American experience to embody the abstraction "a dream
deferred."
Harlem (A Dream Deferred)

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
or fester like a sore
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
Like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?
EXERCISE 1:
Similes. The following is a list of adjectives set up to turned into similes. Complete them quickly, without worrying
about whether your comparisons are original or not.
as orange as _________________________________________________
as barren as _________________________________________________
as hungry as _________________________________________________
as fragile as _________________________________________________
as arrogant as _________________________________________________

as rough as _________________________________________________
as tentative as _________________________________________________
as pliant as _________________________________________________
as eloquent as _________________________________________________
as reliable as _________________________________________________
as restless as _________________________________________________
as confining as _________________________________________________
as pale as _________________________________________________

Once you have a substantial list, try mixing and matching the adjectives and nouns. Do you get any interesting results?
For example: if you started with "as orange as an Arizona desert" and "as hungry as a mountain lion," mix them to get
"as hungry as an Arizona desert." Some of them will seem bizarre that's fine experiment! Write five of these
mixed similes in the space below to share with the rest of the class.
1. _____________________________________________________________________
2. _____________________________________________________________________
3. _____________________________________________________________________
4. _____________________________________________________________________
5. _____________________________________________________________________
EXERCISE 2:

Metaphors.

Now go back up to that first list, with all of the nouns that you supplied on the right side. Try mixing and
matching these nouns in the form of metaphors to produce interesting, suggestive results. For example, if you used "as
orange as an Arizona desert" and "as barren as empty playground," combine the nouns, so that you have "an Arizona
desert is an empty playground." Carl Sandburg said, "Poetry is the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits." Write your
"forced metaphors" in the space below.
1. _____________________________________________________________________
2. _____________________________________________________________________
3. _____________________________________________________________________
4. _____________________________________________________________________
5. _____________________________________________________________________
Pick one of these forced connections that seem to work and try to extend it, describing your first object further in terms
of the second. For example: "An Arizona desert is an empty playground. Your eager playmate, the Gila monster, waits
for you, squatting up on that rock. He wants to play 'king of the mountain.' Or better yet, a new game: 'Let's get baked'
or 'Swallow that bug.' Ride on that cactus swing ouch! Awthe sand storm's ruined our game. Time to go in. Hope
that air conditioned house isn't a mirage." And so on.
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Suggestion: Try writing a poem using the object above as a metaphor.

Part 2: Make a list of objects that are important to you for emotional or symbolic reasons. They may be associated with
your childhood, a person you cherish, an activity that lifts you out of yourself, or perhaps a single event or moment that
you will never forget. They might range from an automobile to the bookbag you take everywhere with you.
1. ________________________________ 6. ________________________________
2. ________________________________ 7. ________________________________
3. ________________________________ 8. ________________________________
4. ________________________________ 9. ________________________________
5. ________________________________ 10. ________________________________
Journal Assignment (Call it: Metaphor Exercise): Choose one of the objects on the above list and dwell on it, turn it
upside down and get inside it, in your imagination and with your senses too, if the object is available for actual study.
Compose a series of ten to fifteen metaphors equating your object to something else:: "My running shoes are boats to
heaven and hell, skiffs without rudders; they are straightjackets for my paranoid-schizophrenic feet; they are barnyards
of microscopic compost; they are stiffened, elaborate socks; they are designer calluses, synthetic peat pots," and so on.
Loosen the hold of practicality and logic, follow your intuition, bring in the objects you associate with the one you have
chosen. If this one object runs dry of connections, try another. Alternative: You might try this exercise with a subject
you have already begun to write about in your notebook, as a way of opening it up in fertile directions.
EXERCISE 3:
In the following descriptions the similes are inappropriate and do not make sense.
Replace the underlined words with appropriate words to create vivid, original images.
Write them above the words they are replacing.
1. The old mans legs move as slowly and as awkwardly as car tires.
2. His face fell in folds like rain drops.
3. His eyes were grey like daisies.
4. His body looked old and used like a brick house, but his smile was as young as a typewriter.
5. He called his dog with a whistle as sharp as a cup of coffee.
6. The dogs response was as eager as a Christmas day.
7. His tail wagged like a bicycle wheel.
8. The old man petted him as tenderly as he would a spice rack.
9. The old mans eyes began to shine like an apple.
10. The love between the two was as warm as a window pane.
EXERCISE 4:
Simile. Read the following poem, then answer the questions.

1. What two things are compared in the first simile? How are they alike?
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2. What two things are compared in the second simile? How are they alike?
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3. What two things are compared in the third simile? How are they alike?
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4. What two things are compared in the fourth simile? How are they alike?
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EXERCISE 5:
A metaphor moves one step further than a simile. A metaphor, unlike a simile does not use like or as to make a
comparison. Instead, a metaphor takes the form of a direct statement. Here are some examples of metaphors:
He is a snake.
All the worlds a stage.
Love is a bridge.
Winter has a white coat.
Write some original metaphors to complete each of these

EXERCISE 6:
Whats the metaphor

EXERCISE 7:
Read the following poem and answer the questions

1. What is the first metaphor in this poem? What two things are being compared?
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2. What is the meaning of the metaphor?
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3. What is the second metaphor in this poem? What two things are being compared?
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4. What is the meaning of the metaphor?
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