Simile

8 Key excerpts on "Simile"

• 

  eBook - PDF

  An Introduction to Rhetorical Terms

  • Christopher Kelen(Author)
  • 2021(Publication Date)
  • Humanities E-Books

    (Publisher)

  2. Classical and traditional tropes First, plain speech in the mother tongue. Hearing it you should be able to see, As if in a flash of summer lightning, Apple trees, a river, the bend of a road. And it should contain more than images. Singsong lured it into being, Melody, a daydream. Defenseless, It was bypassed by the dry, sharp world. — Czeslaw Milosz ( from A Treatise on Poetry) Simile Simile is usually defined as the use of like or as to make an unexpected comparison. A Simile can be thought of as a metaphor made explicit. Examples: Robert Burns: ‘My love is like a red, red rose.’ William Wordsworth: ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud.’ Simile as a figure needs to be distinguished, on the one hand from metaphor, and on the other, from factual comparison. A factual comparison (for instance ‘I’m as tall as you are’) does not fit the criteria for Simile, because there is nothing unusual in it. Nor need like or as be the vehicle for the making of the comparison. There are many words and phrases which can serve such a function: seem , echo, as...as. This last form ( as...as ) is characteristic of the epic style of Simile employed by Homer and many subsequent poets to make lengthy and detailed comparisons between spheres of experience. Literary Simile has in the twentieth century been regarded in the West as a poor cousin of metaphor. This is possibly because in announcing the intention to make a comparison a Simile may seem clumsy compared with a metaphor. It is also because Modernism, in turning its back on Victorian verbiage, frowned on the use Critical Theory 4 of unnecessary words such as like or as . The potential ethical problem in dispensing with Simile is the problem of metaphor. Metaphor tells us that one thing actually is another thing which it is not. Metaphor Metaphor means saying something is what it is not.

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - ePub

  Clarity and Coherence in Academic Writing

  Using Language as a Resource

  • David Nunan, Julie Choi(Authors)
  • 2023(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  For example: I have a chemistry quiz tomorrow, so I’m going to have to hit the books tonight. (hit the books = study) Come up with three words of your own and repeat the exercise.

  A closer look at figures of speech

  In this section, we will describe and illustrate the following figures of speech: Simile, metaphor, idiom, colloquialism, cliché, and slang. We don’t want you to be too concerned about definitional differences, which can be subtle. Our main concern is that you understand the degree of acceptability of different figurative expressions in academic writing.

  Simile

  A Simile is a device for comparing one thing with another that it does not resemble, but which the author believes captures the essence or special feature of the entity or phenomenon in question. Not all statements involving “as … as” constructions are Similes. “The Bentley is as stately as a Queen” is a Simile. “The Bentley is as stately as a Rolls Royce”, is not. “Buenos Aires is like a fading rose”, is a Simile. “Buenos Aires is like Rome”, is not.

  The Simile is a popular device among creative writers, particularly poets of a romantic persuasion. William Wordsworth begins his celebrated poem Daffodils with the following lines:

  I wandered lonely as a cloud

  That floats on high o’er dales and hills.

  They are also used to make a point in a humorous or dramatic way, as in, A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle is more striking than Women have no need for men.

  When Similes that might have been notable when first coined are overused, they become cliches (as brave as a lion, as red as a rose, as fast as the speed of light) or colloquialisms (As angry as a cut snake [Australian English]). We have more to say about cliches and colloquialisms later, where we make the point that, when it comes to academic writing, they are best avoided.

  Similes in academic writing

  Similes are frequently used in academic writing to make difficult or abstract concepts, comprehensible. Here are some examples from a range of disciplines.

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - ePub

  Writing with Clarity and Style

  A Guide to Rhetorical Devices for Contemporary Writers

  • Robert A. Harris(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  8Figurative Language I

  All of the rhetorical devices I have discussed are important to know and use, but the single, truly essential one to study until you gain proficiency is metaphor.

  —Aristotle

  Clarifying the unfamiliar by comparing it with the familiar is one of the key methods of teaching and learning. All of us try to understand something we don’t know about by comparing it to something we do know about. The devices presented in this and the following two chapters all embody this method, for they are all devices of association. An idea under discussion is illuminated or made more vivid through an imaginative comparison with something already familiar to the reader. These devices are among the most creative tools available to a writer because they frequently rely on novel comparisons and images, both of which make for a fresher, more vivid work.

  Simile

  A Simile (SIM uh lee) compares two very different things that have at least one quality in common. While Similes are used in poetry principally for artistic effect, in formal writing they serve not only to increase interest but also to clarify an idea in an imaginative way.

  After long exposure to the direct sun, the leaves of the houseplant looked like pieces of overcooked bacon.

  In the Simile above, the subject to be compared is the leaves of the houseplant , while the image used is pieces of overcooked bacon . The word that directly expresses the comparison is like . In this instance, the writer wanted to emphasize the shriveled and brown look of the leaves, so a familiar, vivid image was chosen. Most people know what overcooked bacon looks like, so the image effectively presents a visual idea to the mind’s eye.

  Similes are imaginative comparisons between two fundamentally different things, not between genuinely similar ones. In fact, if the things compared are too much like each other, the comparison is not a Simile. For example, the comparison, “The office building on Main Street is like the warehouse on Perimeter Road,” is not a Simile because a building and a warehouse are too much alike.

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - PDF

  Language in the Context of Use

  Discourse and Cognitive Approaches to Language

  • Andrea Tyler, Yiyoung Kim, Mari Takada, Andrea Tyler, Yiyoung Kim, Mari Takada(Authors)
  • 2008(Publication Date)
  • De Gruyter Mouton

    (Publisher)

  304 Carol Lynn Moder make hearers conscious of the process of blending, which would otherwise go unnoticed. Thus, within this framework, one difference between metaphors and Similes may be that the use of linguistic expressions such as like serves the function of making one aware of the mapping. A recent cognitive linguistic analysis of Similes by Israel, Harding, and Tobin (2004) also highlights the importance of grammatical form, but it differs from other studies in encompassing a much broader range of constructions in its definition of Similes. Israel, Tobin, and Harding (2004: 125) define Similes as “explicit, figurative comparisons, and therefore any construction which can express a literal comparison should in principle be available to form a Simile.” They further suggest that because the Similes must take the grammatical form of an explicit comparison, they are constrained to the rhetorical role of description. They hypothesize that Similes fulfill this descriptive role by highlighting elements already present in the domain matrices of the two concepts. Although Israel, Harding, and Tobin (2004: 133) acknowledge that Similes do not exclusively map attributive features, they assert that Similes function like attributions in “providing a compact and coherent image to describe the features of a single event.” Metaphor, on the other hand, is in their view primarily conceptual, more grammatically flexible, and typically adds to a target domain by projecting structure from a source. This analysis provides a number of valuable insights about the nature of Similes and metaphors, but it does so largely through the comparison of selective examples which vary dramatically in the contexts from which they are drawn. Furthermore, because the analysis assumes at the outset that Similes are a form of comparison, the examples of Similes are selected to meet this criterion, whereas the examples of metaphors are not so constrained.

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - PDF

  Phraseology and Culture in English

  • Paul Skandera(Author)
  • 2008(Publication Date)
  • De Gruyter Mouton

    (Publisher)

  Knowing how to manipulate and apply them is part of native-speaker competence (Fillmore et al. 1988: 504–505). Similes were included among the various types of idiom discussed by Smith (1925) and others after him. Like other idioms, Similes present a range of more and less fixed expressions. Time-honored Similes, for exam-ple as keen as mustard and like a house on fire are lexically fixed, and there-fore “substantive idioms” in the terms of Fillmore et al. (1988: 505–506). Fresh Similes of these types are continually created, because the grammati-cal structures that house them belong to the core grammar of English. The 236 Pam Peters terms of a Simile can arise quite simply out of the narrative, hence for ex-ample “He hoisted Hans on to his shoulders, and galloped off like a horse, whinnying and cavorting in front of Anna” (ACE S11: 2028). 1 Alterna-tively, the Simile may be coined imaginatively by the writer: “…with his lame legs nearly as useless as spent knicker elastic” (ACE PO8: 1443). Both these types of Simile, those that arise out of the physical context, and those that provide an external reference point, can be created wherever Eng-lish is spoken or written, to reflect the common circumstances of life. But some at least may be repeated often enough to become lexically fixed con-structions, and to merit discussion as “cultural scripts” – using Wierzbicka’s (1994) term in a different way, and without taking on her methodology. Their formative and adaptive stages, where recorded, may be expected to show something of their socio-cultural significance. Both literature and journalism in Australian English present a rich store of Similes used to project aspects of life and evaluate the people and phe-nomena encountered. Some of them put new wine into old bottles, as does the Australian poor as a bandicoot 2 , recorded in 1845, a conscious variant of poor as a church mouse , first recorded in 1731 according to the Oxford English Dictionary (1989).

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - PDF

  Character, Narrator, and Simile in the Iliad

  • Jonathan L. Ready(Author)
  • 2011(Publication Date)
  • Cambridge University Press

    (Publisher)

  2 Cf. de Jong (2001: xii) on the “‘argument’ function” of an “embedded story.” 28 Similes and Likenesses in the Character-Text be viewed in isolation. Characters in both epics also deploy likenesses, another distinguishing utterance like Simile in the form “A (is) like B,” in the hopes of standing out in the linguistic field. 1. SimileS, LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE, AND STATUS Richard Martin (1989) shows that Homeric characters are performers of verbal art who seek routinely to demonstrate their distinctive linguistic competence; that they perform before audiences whose members are capable of judging and responding to them in kind (that is, they perform in a competitive linguistic arena); and, finally, that through these displays, the characters aim to affirm or enhance their status. A Homeric speaker’s use of Simile gains point in light of this characterization. The work of two ethnographers, Joel Sherzer and Andrew Strathern, throws into relief the importance of figurative language to competitive performers for whom exhibitions of verbal artistry are essential to the acquisition and assertion of social rank. Sherzer studies the San Blas Kuna in Panama, whose chiefs present elaborate metaphors in public, and so necessarily competitive, assemblies. 3 The metaphors are deemed sufficiently intricate as to require explanation by an interpreter, and the chief’s ability to deploy the metaphors appropriately makes a definitive contribution to his reputation and standing: In this sense his power is a power of words. His popularity and success reside in his ability to develop moral positions, argue for modes of behavior, and espouse particular points of view through creative, innovative, and often indirect language. … He per- forms in an esoteric language, phonologically, syntactically, semantically, and lexically distinct from colloquial Kuna. And he personally exploits and develops this language in the form of creative metaphors.

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - PDF

  Applied Cognitive Linguistics for Language Teachers

  • Jorg Roche, Moiken Jessen(Authors)
  • 2023(Publication Date)
  • LIT Verlag

    (Publisher)

  96 3.1 Linguistic Imagery and the Conceptual Metaphor Natalya Furashova, Moiken Jessen & Katsiaryna EL-Bouz Sometimes, people are not straightforward with what they mean to say, and – on the other hand – words are not always used to express their literal meaning. We could, for instance, say about a person that he is cun- ning or clever. But instead, we say He’s (sly as) a fox. We harbor certain mental images (such as a mental image of a fox) and use them to speak about different things. The transfer entails a special effect which origi- nates from linguistic imagery. Linguistic imagery is mainly achieved by metaphors and metonymies. These used to be viewed as primarily rhetoric tropes and, therefore, ap- peared to be of relevance primarily to rhetorics and to literature rather than to linguistic research. Furthermore, they were viewed as purely sty- listic phenomena. This chapter focuses on metaphors and broadens the traditional under- standing of metaphors using research results of cognitive linguistic stud- ies. According to these results, metaphors are an expression of our intel- lectual abilities and, therefore, constitute the cognitive foundation of lan- guage. They exhibit a regular, systemic character and embody a concep- tualizing mechanism, or in other words, a pattern of thought. Study Goals By the end of this chapter, you will be able to: − explain the most important types of figurative language − recognize different aspects of transmitting meaning − comprehend the difference between metaphor and metonymy from the perspective of traditional linguistics − gain a first impression of the metaphor as a cognitive, conceptu- alizing mechanism which structures language. 97 3.1.1 The Basics: Types of Imagery-Based Languages Using words in a non-literal sense was part of the art of oratory (rhetorics) in antiquity.

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - PDF

  Metaphor in Educational Discourse

  • Lynne Cameron(Author)
  • 2003(Publication Date)
  • Continuum

    (Publisher)

  Metaphor, as 'a figure of speech', is primarily a linguistic phenomenon. All linguistic meta-phors are presupposed to function as process metaphors, so that the two categories are collapsed into one. SUBSTITUTION THEORY The Substitution theory of metaphor, often claimed to be directly descended from Aristotelian theory, but, as I have suggested, actually a misrepresentation of it, characterizes metaphor as 'renaming' of the Topic by the Vehicle: Metaphor is the application to one thing of the name belonging to another. (Aitchison 1987: 144) Metaphor: A rhetorical figurative expression of similarity or dissimilarity in which a direct, nonliteral substitution or identity is made between one thing and another. (Myers and Simms, Longman Dictionary of Poetic Terms 1982) The Substitution theory would thus see the example the atmosphere is a blanket of gases as a renaming, or substitution, of atmosphere with the term blanket. The idea of mapping across conceptual domains is reduced to the linking of concepts or entities, with the relations in the domains left out of the picture. 15 Metaphor in educational discourse In this simplified view of how metaphor works, the sentence containing blanket is held to be replacing some set of literal sentences (Black 1979: 27). The principle that a literal equivalent of a metaphor can be found and will work as a paraphrase of it, also entails that metaphor is decorative and can be dispensed with, without any loss of meaning. For those who see metaphor as creative and essentially irreducible, this principle and its entailments lie at the heart of the weakness of the Substitution theory. It is further weakened if metaphor is characterized as renaming, which focuses attention on nominal metaphors to the neglect of other types, particularly verb metaphors.

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book