Definition
Simile
A simile is a figure of
speech that makes a comparison,
showing similarities between two different things. Unlike a metaphor, a simile draws
resemblance with the help of the words “like” or “as”. Therefore, it is a
direct comparison.
Simile adalah majas yang
membandingkan sesuatu hal dengan hal yang lainnya dengan menggunakan kata
penghubung atau kata pembanding. Kata penghubung yang digunakan contohnya
seperti, bagaikan, bak, layaknya, laksana, dll.
Types
of simile
The first type of simile simply
tries to invoke some genuine quality of a real object through reference to
another object. The relevant cliché is “as hot as an oven”. With these
“concrete” similes, the danger for the writer is that cliché is difficult to
avoid; exaggeration also creeps up on you. But the possibility is always there
for a simple simile of this type to contain other, hidden meanings or connotations.
Take this example from Thomas Hardy’s poem ‘The Clock Winder’: “It is as dark
as a cave”. Nothing too complicated there, the image is clear, the reference,
obvious. But think for a while on the nature of caves. Claustrophobic, tapering
into ancient rocks, the home of unknown streams, stalactites and stalagmites,
the origins of human civilisation, hidden realms. The darkness of the very
ordinary night Hardy is explaining now takes on a more psychological aspect.
The depth of similes such as these is, of course, entirely up to the writer.
But writers and students should be encouraged to think very carefully about the
objects they choose to place into their similes.
The second type does the same thing, but invokes non-existent objects that people are nonetheless familiar with. For example: “Quick feet as light/As the feet of a sprite” from the poem ‘Signs and Tokens’. It is easy to see the reference, even though there are (as far as we know) no such things as sprites. The word “sprite” itself has become almost a metaphor for quickness and lightness. With this kind of simile a writer can convey some sense of numinosity or give an ethereal atmosphere to a scene or idea. A clichéd example of this type would be something like, “She looked like an angel”. A better one would be this, from Hardy’s poem ‘Apostrophe to an Old Psalm Tune’, “..sweet as angels’ laughters”.
The third type of simile intends to reference the object or quality only vaguely or slightly to anything, and is instead a satire, or a play with language for its own sake. This is exceptionally difficult to write appropriately. Most usually it is done to make the reader question the writing process and think about the difficulty of communication. It is mainly associated with modernist and post-modernist writing. An example would be “The years were like the cries of children”, in which a sense of fear is invoked, but otherwise the similarities are slight or non-existent.
The second type does the same thing, but invokes non-existent objects that people are nonetheless familiar with. For example: “Quick feet as light/As the feet of a sprite” from the poem ‘Signs and Tokens’. It is easy to see the reference, even though there are (as far as we know) no such things as sprites. The word “sprite” itself has become almost a metaphor for quickness and lightness. With this kind of simile a writer can convey some sense of numinosity or give an ethereal atmosphere to a scene or idea. A clichéd example of this type would be something like, “She looked like an angel”. A better one would be this, from Hardy’s poem ‘Apostrophe to an Old Psalm Tune’, “..sweet as angels’ laughters”.
The third type of simile intends to reference the object or quality only vaguely or slightly to anything, and is instead a satire, or a play with language for its own sake. This is exceptionally difficult to write appropriately. Most usually it is done to make the reader question the writing process and think about the difficulty of communication. It is mainly associated with modernist and post-modernist writing. An example would be “The years were like the cries of children”, in which a sense of fear is invoked, but otherwise the similarities are slight or non-existent.
These types of simile can also be
adapted, extended or cut. Often a writer will slide the usual expressions into
“hot like an oven” or “oven-hot” or “with the heat of an oven” or some other
phrase. To avoid cliché and extend the image – though this has to be done with
caution – a writer might take a simile like “she looked like an angel” and
change it to “she looked like an angel, full of its sadness for humankind” –
the idea being to give the object of reference more detail in order to make the
image more complex. In the following quotation Hardy doubles his simile to give
it more shades of meaning: From tides the lofty coastlands screen Come smitings
like the slam of doors Or hammerings on hollow floors.
Simile Examples for Advanced Readers
- I dream of silent verses where the rhyme glides noiseless as an oar.
- Though they knew it not, their baby’s cries were lovely as jeweled butterflies.
- He kissed her as though he were trying to win a sword fight.
- The paparazzi circled like vultures above a tottering camel.
- She was as distant as a remote tropical island, uncivilized, unspoiled.
- Our hearts, though stout and brave, still, like muffled drums, are beating funeral marches to the grave.
- He had hidden his wealth, heaped and hoarded and piled on high like sacks of wheat in a granary.
- Pieces of silver and of gold / Into the tinkling strong-box fell / Like pebbles dropped into a well;
- The cabin windows have grown blank as eyeballs of the dead.
- What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
Simile Examples for Intermediate Readers
·
“Food?” Chris inquired, popping out of his seat
like a toaster strudel.
·
Grandpa lounged on the raft in the middle of the pool
like an old battleship.
·
If seen from above the factory, the workers would have
looked like clock parts.
·
The truth was like a bad taste on his tongue.
·
The people who still lived in the town were stuck in
place like wax statues.
·
Cassie talked to her son about girls as though she
were giving him tax advice.
·
Alan’s jokes were like flat soda to the children,
surprisingly unpleasant.
·
My mother’s kitchen was like a holy place: you
couldn’t wear your shoes, you had to sit there at a certain time, and
occasionally we’d pray.
·
The bottle rolled off the table like a teardrop.
·
The handshake felt like warm laundry.
Reference
