Similes, figures of speech that are a subset of metaphors, involve comparing one thing with another thing of a different kind, using the words "like" or "as". Writers and speakers use similes to make descriptions more emphatic or vivid.
Study these similes to better understand what these figures of speech are and how you might use them. Consider using these similes or those of your own creation in creative writing. (A good source on why and how to use metaphors -- include their subset similes -- in creative writing is Purdue University's Online Writing Lab [OWL].)
I
I had grown pure as the dawn and the dew
I have heard the Hiddon People like the hum of swarming bees
I have seen the ravens flying, like banners of old wars
I saw a face bloom like a flower
I saw a river of men marching like a tide
I saw his senses swim dizzy as clouds
I wander'd lonely as a cloud
I was as sensitive as a barometer
I was no more than a straw on the torrent of his will
I will face thy wrath though it bite as a sword
Ideas which spread with the speed of light
Idle hopes, like empty shadows
Impassive as a statue
Impatient as the wind
Impregnable as Gibraltar
Impressive as a warrant of arrest for high treason
Incredible little white teeth, like snow shut in a rose
Infrequent carriages sped like mechanical toys guided by manikins
In honor spotless as unfallen snow
In that head of his a flame burnt that was like an altar-fire
In yonder cottage shines a light, far-gleaming like a gem
Instantly she revived like flowers in water
Intangible as a dream
It came and faded like a wreath of mist at eve
It cuts like knives, this air so chill
It drops away like water from a smooth statue
It pealed through her brain like a muffled bell
It poured upon her like a trembling flood
It racked his ears like an explosion of steam-whistles
It ran as clear as a trout-brook
It seems as motionless and still as the zenith in the skies
It set his memories humming like a hive of bees
It staggered the eye, like the sight of water running up hill
It stung like a frozen lash
It was as futile as to oppose an earthquake with argument
It was as if a door had been opened into a furnace, so the eyes blazed
It would collapse as if by enchantment
Its temples and its palaces did seem like fabrics of enchantment piled to Heaven
J
Jealousy, fierce as the fires
K
Kindle like an angel's wings the western skies in flame
Kindly mornings when autumn and winter seemed to go hand in hand like a happy aged couple
Kingdoms melt away like snow
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Editor's note: This section of EnhanceMyVocabulary.com is excerpted and adapted from Project Gutenberg's Fifteen Thousand Useful Phrases, by Grenville Kleiser.
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