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Similes
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Similes

Similes compare one thing with another using like or as. Master spotting and writing similes to add clarity, imagery, and impact in your GCSE English analysis.

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Fascinating Fact:

Like a magnet shows attraction. A puppy that follows you everywhere behaves like a magnet to your steps.

In GCSE English, a simile draws a clear comparison using like or as. Writers use similes to create vivid images, guide tone, and sharpen analysis in essays and exam responses.

  • Simile: A comparison using like or as to make an image clearer.
  • Imagery: Language that appeals to the senses to help readers picture ideas.
  • Effect: The impact a technique has on the reader, such as emphasis or mood.
What is a simile in GCSE English?

A simile is a figure of speech that compares two things using like or as to make an image vivid and easy to understand.

How do I analyse a simile in an exam answer?

Identify the two things compared, explain the shared quality, and link the effect to meaning, tone, and the writer's purpose in that moment.

What is the difference between a simile and a metaphor?

A simile says one thing is like or as another, while a metaphor states one thing is another without using like or as.

1 .
Which of the following lines from Lord Byron's poem, 'The Destruction of Sennacherib', includes a simile?
And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide
But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf
And cold as the spray of the rock-beating turf
2 .
Which of the following lines from John Keats's poem, 'To Autumn', contains a simile?
Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twinèd flowers
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook
The word 'like' is often used in similes.  Autumn is like a 'gleaner', someone who gathers the last few grains after a field has been harvested
3 .
Which of the following lines from Dahlia Ravikovich's poem, 'The Blue West', includes a simile?
On one of the days to come
The eye of the sea will darken
In that hour all the mass of the earth
Will be stretched out like a sail
4 .
Which of the following lines from U.A. Fanthorpe's poem, 'Men on Allotments', includes a simile?
As mute as monks, tidy as bachelors
They manicure their little plots of earth
Pop music from their little council house estate
Counterpoints with the Sunday-morning bells
This line has two similes, in fact!
5 .
Which of the following lines from Robert Frost's poem, 'Gathering Leaves', contains a simile?
Spades take up leaves
No better than spoons
And bags full of leaves
Are as light as balloons
6 .
Which of the following lines from Emily Dickinson's poem, 'A Bird came down the Walk', includes a simile?
He glanced with rapid eyes
That hurried all abroad
They looked like frightened beads, I thought
He stirred his velvet head
The beads are personified - being inanimate, they cannot literally feel fear, but a bird's bead-like eyes can show fear
7 .
Which of the following lines from Theodore Roethke's poem, 'The Visitant', includes a simile?
Slow, slow as a fish she came
Swaying in a long wave
Her skirts not touching a leaf
Her white arms reaching towards me
8 .
Which of the following lines from Edwin Muir's poem, 'The Horses', includes a simile?
And then the thought confounds us with its strangeness
The tractors lie about our fields; at evening
They look like dank sea-monsters couched and waiting
We leave them where they are and let them rust
9 .
Which of the following lines from W.E. Henley's poem, 'Invictus', includes a simile?
Out of the night that covers me
Black as the pit from pole to pole
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul
10 .
Which of the following lines from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem, 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner', contains a simile?
The bride hath paced into the hall
Red as a rose is she
Nodding their heads before her goes
The merry minstrelsy
The word 'as' is a good clue that you have found a simile.  The line above means 'as red as a rose'
You can find more about this topic by visiting BBC Bitesize - Using language effectively

Author:  Sheri Smith (PhD English Literature, English Teacher & Quiz Writer)

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