Writing Creatively I: Use of Similes

Humans have this wonderful capacity to, not only create alphabets or symbols to articulate basic observations, feelings and thoughts but also, elicit reactions and emotions in readers through the creative use of the language. 

Similes

A simile is used when one would like to make a direct comparison between two dissimilar objects. In making the comparison, `like' or `as' is used to link the two objects and to indicate that a comparison is made.

Let's  use the following poem, Oh, my love is like a red, red rose, by Robert Burns as an example:

Oh, my love's like a red, red rose
That's newly sprung in June;
My love is like the melody
That's sweetly played in tune.

In the above stanza of the poem, love is compared, first, to a red rose, and then, to a melody.

Love is an abstract emotion but the comparison to a rose and then, a melody allows the poet to convey the poet's ideas about love. What characteristics of a deep red rose and sweet melody come to your mind?

In my mind, when I think of a deep red rose, I see it as a beautiful object, pleasant to the sight. The deep red also makes me think of blood and the heart, which is often used as a symbol of love in English literature, is the lifeline through which blood is pumped to the body. Hence, the poet sees his love as a pleasurable emotion that is necessary and life-enriching, filling one with agreeable sensations.

Similarly, just as music that is in tune evokes an enjoyable listening experience, the poet claims his love which has all the `notes' in place is engaging or appealing.

Now, just take a look at the following poem by William Wordsworth and identify the similes. How do the similes help the poet to describe the objects and/or feelings that he sees or experiences as he views the scenery around him? Suggested answers will be provided mid-week.

I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud 

by William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they

Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee;

A poet could not be but gay,

In such a jocund company!

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.