Poetic devices 1: Simile

In this blog series, I plan to explore a wide range of poetic devices, figures of speech that can enhance your writing significantly. Here's the first in the series: 

Would you like your poetry to pack a punch? Of course you would! You wouldn't be reading this if you didn't. Let's look at simile and how it can add an extra dimension to your poetry. 

You must be familiar with William Shakespeare's Sonnet 18:

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate...

Or William Wordsworth's most famous poem, the first lines of which are:

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills...

Or most overtly, this by Robert Burns:

O my Luve is like a red, red rose...

All of these poets knew how to use the very common poetic device known as simile to add power to their message. If a writer compares something to something else they are using simile - and similes tend to make the description more emphatic, vivid or colourful.

Often it's not enough to say something like 'he is quiet'. Using simile, you could say 'he is quiet as a mouse', or even more vividly 'he is as quiet as an ancient grave.' You could take this to an abstract level and say something like 'he stands as quietly as an oak tree under freshly fallen snow.' How about that for conjuring up an image? But the simile is just the start... it can open the door for more.

Shakespeare's verse openly states that he is comparing his love to a summer day. He then elaborates that the comparison (or simile) is inadequate. Wordsworth extends his simile, to add a rich description of the nature of a cloud. It sets up his sudden and unexpected discovery of the host of golden daffodils quite brilliantly.

A good simile in a poem can be powerful. What you do with it next makes it memorable or even spectacular. It's like a speeding train that can't be slowed. There... I just used a simile.

Steve Wheeler

Image from Hippopx used under a Creative Commons licence