Since Poetry from Daily Life began on Nov. 5, it has featured 11 guests and 50 more poets across the United States are standing by. Counting our host newspaper, the Springfield News-Leader, the column is now carried in at least five newspapers in three states. In name it’s my column, but what makes it so successful are all the other voices who come to share their thoughts, experience, and wisdom about poetry. I don’t know anywhere else you can find such a rich mix of voices. ~ David L. Harrison
As happy as a clam
As white as snow. As red as a beet. As quiet as a mouse. These are familiar figures of speech specifically defined as similes. A simile compares two dissimilar things using “like” or “as.” One goal of a simile is to give the reader an image to help describe something. The subject is not just hard — it is as hard as a rock! A close relative of the simile, the metaphor, turns one thing into another. She’s the wind beneath my wings. They’re a bunch of squirrels.
But similes and metaphors have another purpose beyond clarifying the subject. They also add an element of surprise. They reward the reader by creating an unexpected mental picture that lasts beyond the reading.