Similes 02

In English, similes are comparisons and are useful when writing creatively and constructing poetry. Let your imagination run riot and make up your own similes!

We have a tendency to think metaphorically. Can you spot the two metaphors in the sentences above? One is in the phrase "construct poetry", which imagines poetry as a building and the individual lines as the materials with which a poem is constructed. The other is in the phrase "let your imagination run riot", which compares the abstract imagination to an unfettered person or animal giving in to every whim, careless of potential destruction. This is also an example of personification, which is always metaphorical.

Similes, like metaphor, compare one thing to another, but always make the comparison explicit. Using similes rather than metaphor would look something like this: "She constructed her poem like a building, the poem's form like a frame, the lines like the building blocks." Or this: "Let your imagination run riot, like an unbridled horse in a vast prairie". Metaphor gives the reader the opportunity to imagine the comparison individually, whereas simile requires the writer to make the comparison more explicit.

See how well you know your similes by playing both this and Similes 01.