What are Similes???

Are similes like smiles?

The words look almost

alike.

No, that’s not it.

Oh! If we just learned about the poetic

device of alliteration, I bet this is another one of

those.

Let’s check it out.

Whenever you write, you are giving other

people information. The information is

usually descriptive in some way.

In poetry, your words must be VERY

DESCRIPTIVE.

But what if the person you tell the

information to doesn’t have the same

picture in his or her head that you do??

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Or if you state that

something is soft, you

might mean like this little

kitten.

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But what your reader

“sees”

is a roaring Bengal

tiger!!

So the simile to make your meaning clear would

help.

How are you going to give

readers a “picture” with your

words that will help them “see”

what you are talking about more

clearly.

One way is by using

comparisons to things that your

listeners already know.

So we can see that one way writers

make the images they use clear is

by using one of the poetic devices

called similes.

Remember -

Similes are just taking two

things that aren’t very alike at all

and showing a comparison of

the two using like or as between

them in the sentence.

For instance, if I wanted to write about one of the

three bears’ beds that was too hard to sleep on, you

wouldn’t really know how hard the bed

was. You might picture a firm mattress

which many people like to sleep on

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But if I use a simile and say,

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“That the bed is hard as a rock,”

then you get a picture of just how hard

the bed really is, right?

You already use similes to give clearer

pictures of what you talk about to others -

What about eating Mexican food with hot

peppers in the meat?? You could use a

simile to describe it to your grandma –

“Grandma, the Mexican food we had was

good, but it was hot as a fire cracker!”

Now your grandma knows why you had to

drink so much water at dinner

How about that!! You hear similes all the time,

like…

Your coat with the fur lining is as warm as

toast.

Those puppies are as cute as a button.

This storm looks bad – The sky is dark as the

inside of my closet.

We tried to go swimming at the lake, but the water

was cold as ice cubes so we got out.

Now you know what similes really are –

comparing two things using like or as that

aren’t alike to create a picture for your reader

–

Let’s all listen today and see how many similes

you hear and share the best one with me

tonight

I’ll be a watching for the best simile I

receive.