Similes and Metaphors

A figure of speech

Figure of speech

• An expression that has deeper meaning• Not literal in meaning• There are several types; a few are:– Similes– Metaphors– Hyperbole– Irony

• Found in poetry, prose, speech, movies

Simile and Metaphor

Simile

• An explicit comparison that

uses the words like or as

• A comparison between two

things that are unlike, but

the author wishes to make

a correlation between them

Metaphor

• A comparison that does not

use like or as.

• A comparison of likeness

• States that something is

something else

Examples

Simile

• Her hair is as red as a flame.

• The grass grew like a weed.

• Her arms spread like an

eagle’s wings.

• Martha’s pillows appeared

as marshmallows in her

newly decorated bedroom.

Metaphor• Her hair is a flame that

scorches those who look upon it.

• The grass is a weed taking over the yard.

• Her arms are wings flapping to take her higher.

• Martha’s pillows became marshmallows that softened the appearance of her room.

Examples in Literature

Simile• As still as a brooding dove - from Percy B. Shelley’s “The Cloud”

• The Chair she sat in, like a burnished throne

- from T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land

Metaphor• Life's but a walking shadow;

a poor player- from Shakespeare’s Macbeth

• Those are pearls that were his eyes

- from T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land