Simile is a literary device where writers compare different elements using ‘as’ or ‘like’. It helps writers forge connections between unrelated concepts and embellish emotions. Similes create a connection between writer and audience. Similes, whether gracefully straightforward or intricately layered, blend to create a tapestry of poetic expressions that infuse literary works with attractiveness and enchantment. The proper use of this literary tool is dependent on the author’s objective of creating an accurate lens through which the readers understand the subject matter. Below are the examples of poems with similes. These poetic similes showcase their versatility and enchantment, while also enhancing the intended meanings of literary works.
Examples of Similes from Poems
Example #1
I found a dimpled spider, fat and white,
On a white heal-all, holding up a moth
Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth–
Assorted characters of death and blight
Mixed ready to begin the morning right,
Like the ingredients of a witches’ broth–
A snow-drop spider, a flower like a froth,
And dead wings carried like a paper kite
In this poem, vivid similes serve as the foundation of its imagery. The dimpled spider, resembling a bloated pearl, clings to a white heal-all, clasping a moth like starched satin. Death and blight mingle, akin to an enigmatic witch’s concoction. The composition evokes a sense of eerie beauty, where a snow-drop spider and frothy flower cradle a lifeless moth, its wings aloft like a paper kite. These similes weave a tapestry of unsettling harmony, masterfully painting a scene where the pallor of mortality reigns supreme.
Example #2
A Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns
O my Luve is like a red, red rose
That’s newly sprung in June;
O my Luve is like the melody
That’s sweetly played in tune.
In these verses, the poet’s love blooms like a freshly sprung red rose in June, and his affection resonates akin to a melodious tune. These two artful similes interlace nature’s beauty and harmonious music to convey the profound depth and splendor of his love for his cherished one.
Example #3
Daffodils 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.
The verses of this poem are adorned with similes and profound imagery. The speaker, akin to a solitary cloud, drifts over valleys and hills, symbolizing isolation. Yet, as he stumbles upon a golden host of daffodils by the lakeside, they twinkle like stars, imparting a celestial charm to the scene, and the similes orchestrate a vibrant canvas of emotions and nature’s allure.
Example #4
When I have Fears by John Keats
When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be
Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain,
Before high-pilèd books, in charactery,
Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain
In this example, the poet fears an untimely demise before his pen can harvest the wealth of his prolific thoughts. He likens his unwritten words to ripe grain stored in abundant granaries, highlighting his apprehension about unfulfilled literary aspirations. Keats’ similes illuminate the tension between mortality and artistic ambition, revealing the depth of his concerns.
Example #5
The Cricket Sang by Emily Dickinson
The low grass loaded with the dew,
The twilight stood as strangers do
With hat in hand, polite and new,
To stay as if, or go.
In this Emily Dickinson’s poem, twilight assumes the persona of a courteous stranger, standing uncertainly, hat in hand, like one unsure whether to linger or depart. The simile paints twilight as a polite, enigmatic presence in the gathering darkness, evoking a sense of quiet wonder as nightfall descends.
Example #6
Passing Time by Maya Angelou
Your skin like dawn
Mine like musk
One paints the beginning
of a certain end.
In the above poem, the poet artfully employs similes to evoke a sense of unity and equality. Comparing “skin like dawn” to “mine like musk,” she juxtaposes light and dark shades, symbolizing life’s dualities. Through this simile, she poetically conveys a message of impartiality, illustrating how ultimately, the contrasting hues blend harmoniously into one.
Example #7
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet
Similes compare deferred dreams to vivid images such as a festering sore, rotting meat, or a sweet turning to crust. These similes vividly illustrate the varied and sometimes troubling outcomes of unrealized aspirations.
Example #8
A Lady by Amy Lowell
You are beautiful and faded
Like an old opera tune
Played upon a harpsichord;
Or like the sun-flooded silks
Of an eighteenth-century boudoir.
Amy lays the description of a lady to life through a beautiful simile. She said that the beautiful old lady is like an old opera tune. Although opera is out of date yet lovely to its listeners. Later she compares it to “silk that is damaged by the sun. The speaker is a young woman who is describing the appearance of an old woman.
Example #9
Simile by N. Scott Momaday
What did we say to each other
that now we are as the deer
who walk in single file
with heads high
with ears forward
with eyes watchful
with hooves always placed on firm ground
in whose limbs there is latent flight
The poem unfolds a masterful and continuous simile that compares humans to deer. The simile gracefully portrays human nature as deer. The imagery of deer walking in unity in the film portrays human condition with fragility and potential for transcendence.
Example #10
Greater Than That by Joyce Garacci
Like a bruised, little bird
Too confused to fly,
I’m trapped, in a word,
So confined am I.
The poet uses a simile to convey the speaker’s vulnerability and entrapment, comparing them to a wounded bird incapable of flight. The comparison highlights the theme of yearning for freedom, with captivity depicted as a persistent struggle like a “bruised little bird.”