A White Heron

by Sarah Orne Jewett

A White Heron: Similes 2 key examples

Definition of Simile

A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things. To make the comparison, similes most often use the connecting words "like" or "as," but can also... read full definition
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things. To make the comparison, similes most often use the connecting words "like... read full definition
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things. To make the comparison, similes most often... read full definition
Part II
Explanation and Analysis—The View from the Trees:

Once Sylvia has climbed in the top of the pine tree (the climax of the story), the narrator describes the scene using imagery and a pair of similes:

Sylvia’s face was like a pale star, if one had seen it from the ground, when the last thorny bough was past, and she stood trembling and tired but wholly triumphant, high in the tree-top. Yes, there was the sea with the dawning sun making a golden dazzle over it, and toward that glorious east flew two hawks with slow-moving pinions […] Their gray feathers were as soft as moths; they seemed only a little way from the tree, and Sylvia felt as if she too could go flying away among the clouds.

Explanation and Analysis—As a Dog Loves:

After Sylvia decides to protect the white heron by refusing to share the location of its nest with the hunter, the hunter leaves and heads back to his home in the city. Though Sylvia knows she made the right choice, she is also sad to see the hunter go. The narrator captures Sylvia’s loss in this moment, using a simile in the process:

Dear loyalty, that suffered a sharp pang as the guest went away disappointed later in the day, that could have served and followed him and loved him as a dog loves!

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