Figure of Speech Simile Quiz : Definition of Simile (Figure of Speech):
A simile is a figure of speech that compares two different things using the words “like” or “as” to highlight a shared quality or characteristic. Unlike a metaphor, which implies the comparison directly, a simile makes the comparison explicit.
According to Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms: “A simile is an explicit comparison between two unlike things, usually using the words like or as.”
According to M.H. Abrams’ A Glossary of Literary Terms: “A simile is a comparison between two distinctly different things using ‘like’ or ‘as’ to clarify or enhance an image.”
Cambridge Dictionary: “A simile is (the use of) an expression comparing one thing with another, always including the words ‘as’ or ‘like’.”
5 Classic Examples of Simile in English Literature:
- William Shakespeare – Romeo and Juliet
“My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep…”
( Juliet compares her love to the vastness of the sea.)
- Robert Burns – A Red, Red Rose
“O my Luve’s like a red, red rose
That’s newly sprung in June.”
(The beloved is compared to a fresh rose.)
- Homer – The Iliad (translated by Alexander Pope)
“As when the winds, ascending by degrees,
First move the whitening surface of the seas…”
(A simile comparing battle scenes to the sea.)
- William Wordsworth – Daffodils
“I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills…”
(The poet compares his solitude to a floating cloud.)
- Charles Dickens – A Tale of Two Cities
“The wine was red wine, and had stained the ground of the narrow street… like blood.”
(The spilled wine is likened to blood, foreshadowing violence.)
Figure of Speech Simile Quiz
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