We explain what a simile is in language, its relationship with metaphor and some examples. Also, other literary figures.
What is a simile?
A simile or comparison is a Figure of speech which consists of highlighting the similarity or similarity between one referent and another, to attribute to the first characteristics of the second. The notion of similarity comes from its name "simile”.
The comparison, unlike other figures of speech such as the metaphor, is present in a comparative nexus: "as", "which", "what", "similar to", and so on.
The simile has existed since very ancient times and was one of the main rhetorical figures used in the literature epic of the Antiquity. The Greek philosopher Aristotle himself (384-322 BC) attributed a "brilliance effect", especially to the "epic simile" created by Homer, in which he compared one compound action with another.
The simile has the task of aesthetically highlighting what has been said, through the effect produced by the comparison. The simile can also be considered as a formulated allegory, that is, as an extensive form of symbolic representation.
In fact, in the field of rhetoric, is called similes to reasonings that are held in the analogy or similarity between subjects. Its use in everyday language is also common.
Simile examples
Some examples of similes are as follows (the nexus is in italics):
- Miguel is tall What a stair.
- China is such a big country What a continent.
- I had the blackest eyes that the night itself.
- The soup was hot which molten iron.
- My girlfriend has teeth similar topearls.
- We arrived at a very similar to a boat.
Simile and metaphor
The difference between simile and metaphor is, traditionally, that similes use comparative links, metaphors do not. So the latter can be considered a more direct or succinct form of comparison, which is why Aristotle preferred them in his rhetorical analyzes.
However, in contemporary literature there is usually little emphasis on this difference, and similes are used with more spontaneity and simplicity.
Poems with similes
Next, we transcribe some fragments of poems of well-known authors, in which the use of the simile is appreciated:
From the poem “Los columpios” by Fabio Morábito:
Swings are not News,
they are simple as a bone
or as a horizon.
From the poem "Litanies of the Dead Land" by Alfonsina Storni:
There will come a day when the human race
It will have dried up like a vain plant,
And the old sun in space be
Useless charcoal from slaked tea.
From the poem "Autumn song in spring" by Rubén Darío:
It looked like the pure dawn;
she was smiling like a flower.
It was her dark hair
made of night and pain.
From the poem "God wants it" by Gabriela Mistral:
See which thief to kiss her
of the earth in the bowels;
that, when you raise your face,
you find my face with tears.
Other literary figures
Other well-known literary figures are:
- The metaphor. Similar to the simile but devoid of nexus, it is very common in poetry and the song. Thus, it consists of comparing two terms directly, attributing properties of the other to one. For example: "He fixed on me the burning coals of his eyes."
- Humanization. Which can be understood as a form of metaphor, consists of attributing human characteristics to an inanimate object or an animal, to highlight its condition or action. For example: "The wind whispered as it passed through her hair."
- Alliteration. Rhetorical figure consisting of the repetition of certain sounds or cadences within the phrase itself. For example: "With the aleve wing of the slight fan."
- Hyperbole. Or exaggeration, a form of metaphor that attributes exaggerated elements to a term, thus enlarging the meaning to the extreme, to make clear what is being sought. For example: "I'm dying of thirst."