Simile Examples

When we describe certain things, we tend to use the expression “It was like” or “It was as”, so that we can convey our experiences and ideas more effectively to the listener. These comparisons also help the listener draw a picture in his mind. By using such comparisons we make our own way of expressing that much more dramatic, interesting and colorful. Simile is a figure of speech used mostly in poetry to draw parallels between two different entities, bodies, objects, individuals or concepts but possessing some similarity between them, even though far from alike. It can also be explained as two different things often compared in phrases by using ‘like’ or ‘as’.

Simile is often used to capture the attention of the listener with a hint of exaggeration. The simile asks the listeners or readers to picture one thing as being similar to some other thing. It is unlike the metaphor, and poets have used it to add an evocative description to their writings. Similes used in literature may be direct and specific or at times more lengthy and complex. The epic simile, often called ‘The Homeric’ and used more in epic poetry, often extends to several lines.

Examples Of Simile

Simile Using ‘As’

As agile as a monkey
As alike as two peas in a pod
As annoying as nails scratching against a chalkboard
As bald as a coot
As beautiful as nature
As bald as a baby's backside
As black as coal
As big as an elephant
As bright as the sun
As busy as a beaver
As clear as a bell
As cunning as a fox
As cool as a cucumber
As delicate as a flower
As fat as a hippo
As lowly as a worm
As hungry as a wolf
As sturdy as an oak
As slippery as an eel

Simile Using ‘Like’

To get angry like a volcano
To drink like a fish
To sing like an angel
To fit like a glove
To run like a deer
To move like a snail
To eat like a pig
To chatter like a monkey
To sit there like a bump on a log
To fight like cats and dogs
To have eyes like a hawk
To stand out like a sore thumb

Simile Examples In Poetry

‘Flint’

An emerald is as green as grass,
A ruby red as blood;
A sapphire shines as blue as heaven;
A flint lies in the mud.

A diamond is a brilliant stone,
To catch the world's desire;
An opal holds a fiery spark;
But a flint holds a fire.

- by Christina Rossetti.

This is a classic example of the use of similies in a poem called ‘Flint’ by well known 19^th century poet Christina Rossetti.

‘A Red, Red Rose’

O my Luve's like a red, red rose
That's newly sprung in June;
O my Luve's like the melodie
That's sweetly played in tune.

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a' the seas gang dry:

- by Robert Burns

This is another classic example of the use of simile in ‘A Red, Red Rose’ by Robert Burns, who is a known poet from the 18^th century.

Examples Of Simile From Literature

Guiltless forever, like a tree - Robert Browning
Death has many times invited me: it was like the salt invisible in the waves - Pablo Neruda
Dawn breaks open like a wound that bleeds afresh - Wilfred Owen
So are you to my thoughts as food to life - William Shakespeare
Yellow butterflies flickered along the shade like flecks of sun - William Faulkner
As idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean - Samuel Taylor Coleridge

How to Cite

Related Articles

See also

More in 'Art & Entertainment'