Similes & Metaphors
Understand and identify similes (comparisons using like or as) and metaphors (direct comparisons stating something is something else) in texts, explaining how each creates imagery and conveys meaning
What a learner can do afterwards
- Identify similes in a text by locating comparisons using 'like' or 'as' and explain what two things are being compared and what quality is highlighted, e.g. 'The snow was like a white blanket'
- Identify metaphors in a text and explain the implied comparison, e.g. in 'Time is a thief', explain that time is compared to a thief because it takes things away
- Explain how a simile or metaphor in a poem or story creates a particular image or feeling for the reader that a literal description would not achieve
The lesson
You already know that writers can paint pictures with words instead of stating plain facts. Similes and metaphors are two common ways writers do this by comparing one thing to another.
A simile compares two things using the word 'like' or 'as.' In 'The snow was like a white blanket,' snow is compared to a blanket. The quality highlighted is how completely it covers everything.
Try this one: 'Her voice was as smooth as silk.' The word 'as' signals a simile. Her voice is compared to silk, and the quality highlighted is smoothness.
A metaphor also compares two things, but it skips 'like' and 'as.' It says one thing simply IS another thing. In 'Time is a thief,' time is compared to a thief because it quietly takes things away, just like a thief steals.
To tell them apart, look for 'like' or 'as.' Find one, and it's a simile. If a sentence just says something IS or WAS another thing, it's a metaphor. Either way, ask what picture or feeling the writer is creating.
Similes compare with 'like' or 'as,' metaphors say one thing simply is another, and both build pictures plain words could not.
Watch it
Where it sits
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.