Simile and Metaphor
Greg Stryk
Cam Rodrigues
Brent Pizzamiglio
The More You Know
● What are the main components of a simile
and a metaphor
o
What separates the two
● Tenor - the literal aspect/what holds the
meaning
● Vehicle - what conveys the comparison
Simile
● The comparison of two things joined
together using like or as
o
o
His beard was soft as the gentle caress of a lady.
 Tenor - Beard
 Vehicle - Gentle caress
Billowing in the breeze, his beard was like a willow
tree in early spring
 Tenor - Beard
 Vehicle - Willow tree
Metaphor
● A comparison between two things without
the use of like or as
o
o
His beard was a forest of mystery, a vault from
which no secret could escape.
 Tenor - Beard
 Vehicle - Forest, vault
His beard had become a black hole, light failed to
escape its thick entanglement
 Tenor - Beard
 Vehicle - Black hole
Extended Metaphor
A long and multipart Metaphor
● Trope - the use of figurative language following a
specific theme
● Ex: If bigger is better, than perfect is his beard. Niagara
falls dreams to fall as long, the great wall wishes it was
as mighty. More golden than any golden age, stronger
than any oak but never to fall.
o Trope - greatness of his beard.
Epic Simile
● An elongated simile developed over several
lines of the verse
Used commonly throughout epic poems such as The
Odyssey and The Iliad
o Also referred to as a Homeric Simile
o