IDENTIFYING METAPHORS & SIMILES

 

            A simile is a comparison, but it does not use any actual comparing word (‘as,’ ‘like,’ or ‘than’). Here are some well-known examples of similes:

faster than lightning

as stubborn as a mule

checks like roses

            A metaphor is also a comparison, but it does not use any actual comparing words as a simile does. The comparison is implied rather than stated.

This place is a madhouse

a blanket of snow

zip your lip

            Below are some famous comparisons from poems. In each case, tell whether the comparison is a simile or a metaphor.

 

1. The moon was a ghostly galleon                 ___________________________________

2. …the muscles of his brawny arms

     Are strong as iron bands.                           ___________________________________

3. The winds…

     …are upgathered now like sleeping flowers          _____________________________

4. O wild West Wind, though breath of Autumn’s

                                                            being               _____________________________

5. Like an army defeated

    The snow has retreated                                           _____________________________

6. …the new soft fallen mask

     Of snow upon the mountain and the moors          _____________________________

7. I wandered lonely as a cloud                                  _____________________________

8. In the golden lightning

    Of the setting sun                                                   _____________________________