Exploring Language- Making Comparisons

Similes

In everyday language, we describe things by comparing them with other things.
     She was as brave as a lion.
     He was as silly as a headless chook.
     His face felt like sandpaper.
     She addressed the children like a sergeant-major.


These comparisons are straightforward and are sometimes called open comparisons. The words "as" or "like" tell us comparisons are being made. The technical name for these comparisons is similes.     

Her gaze was like ice.

This is a simile.

Metaphors

We can make comparisons without "as" or "like".
     Her gaze was icy.

This is a hidden comparison, and the technical name for it is a metaphor.

We distinguish between literal meanings and metaphorical meanings.
     The footpath was icy. (literal meaning)
     Her gaze was icy. (metaphorical meaning)
     He couldn't digest anything the nurse gave him to eat. (literal meaning)
     He couldn't digest anything the nurse told him. (metaphorical meaning)

We use metaphors all the time in everyday language. Often we are probably not conscious that they are metaphors.

     The whole enterprise had a fishy smell.
     Your letter was buried under my papers.
     That salesman was a shark.

Many experiences, feelings, and ideas are difficult to express in words. Therefore we try to describe them by using comparisons, such as similes and metaphors.

They are frequently found in poetry:
     My love is like a red, red rose
     That's newly sprung in June:
     My love is like the melodie
     That's sweetly played in tune.

Robert Burns

They are also used in academic writing.
     Those people were at the bottom of the social heap.
     Plants are complex chemical factories.
     Light is trapped by a special pigment in the leaves.
     The xylem seems to be the main piping system for water in the plant.

To understand the full meaning of some academic writing, it is necessary to "unpack" the metaphors.

Personification

An aspect of metaphor is personification (Latin persona: "character", "person").

In personification, the non-human is identified with the human or given human characteristics.
     Cricket has been good to me.
     The New Zealand dollar had a quiet month.
     Life dealt him a heavy blow.

Personification is very common in poetry.
     Slowly, silently, now the moon
     Walks the night in her silver shoon.

Walter de la Mare: "Silver"

     Death be not proud, though some have called thee
     Mighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so,
     For, those whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
     Die not, poor death [...]

John Donne: Holy Sonnets, X

It also appears in children's books.
     "There are the trees," said the Beaver. "They're always listening. Most of them are on our side, but there are trees that would betray us to her; you know who I mean."

C. S. Lewis: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Summary of Terms

simile (open comparison)
metaphor
literal meaning
metaphorical meaning
personification
analogy

Exploring Language Contents

Exploring Language is reproduced by permission of the publishers Learning Media Limited on behalf of Ministry of Education, P O Box 3293, Wellington, New Zealand, © Crown, 1996.

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Metaphors and similes are both ways to compare things. We use metaphors and similes every day, but it can be hard to remember just which is which. 
A metaphor is when you say something is something. A simile is when you say something is like something. For example, let's say you have a mean stepfather. If you say, "my stepfather is a bear," that's a metaphor. But if you say, "my stepfather is like a bear," that's a simile.
It's easy if you remember this: if two things are compared with the use of the words "like" or "as," that's a simile. A simile is what's called an open comparison. One memory aid is that you find the letter "i" in both "like" and "simile." But if there's no "like" or "as," that's a hidden comparison -- a metaphor.
Here is a list of similes and metaphors:

Similes	Metaphors
her hair was like silk	her hair was silk
mean as Oscar the Grouch	meaner than Oscar the Grouch
the ship went down like lead	dead fish are polished marble
light as a feather	those figures are fishy
busy as a bee	car salesmen are sharks
her gaze was like ice	her gaze was icy

Both similes and metaphors are used frequently in literature, especially in poetry. A famous poem by Robert Burns begins, "My love is like a red, red rose." That's a simile. But when Romeo says, "Juliet is the sun" in Romeo and Juliet, that's a metaphor.
It can be hard to write or talk about ideas, events and feelings. But using idioms, similes and metaphors can make it easier.