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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
Act 1, Scene 3
Explanation and Analysis—Sharp as My Needle:
After Posthumus leaves Britain on a boat in accordance with his exile by King Cymbeline, Imogen uses a simile and a metaphor that describe her love for him. Speaking with Pisanio, Posthumus’s loyal servant, she states:
I would have broke mine eyestrings, cracked them, but
To look upon him till the diminution
Of space had pointed him sharp as my needle;
Nay, followed him till he had melted from
The smallness of a gnat to air; and then
Have turned mine eye and wept. But, good Pisanio,
When shall we hear from him?
Related Themes:
Act 1, Scene 6
Explanation and Analysis—Like Diana's Priest:
Attempting to seduce Imogen in fulfillment of his wager with Posthumus, Iachimo uses a simile that alludes to the Roman goddess Diana:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Should he make me
Live, like Diana's priest, betwixt cold sheets,
Whiles he is vaulting variable ramps,
In your despite, upon your purse? Revenge it.
I dedicate myself to your sweet pleasure,
More noble than that runagate to your bed,
And will continue fast to your affection,
Still close as sure.
Related Themes:
Act 3, Scene 1
Explanation and Analysis—Neptune's Park:
Encouraging her husband, King Cymbeline, to deny the annual tribute to Rome even at the risk of war, the Queen uses a number of allusions and a simile to strengthen her argument for severing diplomatic relations with the powerful foreign empire:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Remember, sir, my liege,
The kings your ancestors, together with
The natural bravery of your isle, which stands
As Neptune's park, ribbed and paled in
With rocks unscalable and roaring waters,
With sands that will not bear your enemies' boats,
But suck them up to the topmast. A kind of conquest
Caesar made here; but made not here his brag
Of 'Came' and 'saw' and 'overcame: ' with shame—
That first that ever touch'd him—he was carried
From off our coast, twice beaten; and his shipping—
Poor ignorant baubles!— upon our terrible seas,
Like egg-shells.
Related Themes:
