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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
Key Examples in Paradise Lost
Book 1
Explanation and Analysis—Satan's "Monstrous Size":
In Book 1, Milton uses allusions and simile to convey Satan's enormous stature and power:
Thus Satan talking to his nearest mate
With head up-lift above the wave, and eyes
That sparkling blaz'd, his other parts besides
Prone on the flood, extended long and large
Lay floating many a rood, in bulk as huge
As whom the fables name of monstrous size,
Titanian, or Earth-born, that warr'd on Jove,
Briareos or Typhon, whom the Den
By ancient Tarsus held, or that sea-beast
Leviathan, which God of all his works
Created hugest that swim th' ocean stream...
Related Themes:
Book 4
Explanation and Analysis—The Good Angels:
In Book 4, Milton describes the good angels preparing to battle Satan after he has been discovered in Paradise, and employs an allusion and a simile to describe them:
Unlock with LitCharts A+While thus he spake, th’ angelic squadron bright
Turned fiery red, sharp’ning in moonèd horns
Their phalanx, and began to hem him round
With ported spears, as thick as when a field
Of Ceres ripe for harvest waving bends
Her bearded grove of ears, which way the wind
Sways them; the careful ploughman doubting stands
Lest on the threshing floor his hopeful sheaves
Prove chaff.
Related Themes:
Book 9
Explanation and Analysis—Satan as Black Mist :
In Book 9, Milton uses a simile to liken Satan to a "black mist low creeping" before he transforms into a serpent to bewitch Eve:
Unlock with LitCharts A+So saying, through each thicket dank or dry,
Like a black mist low creeping, he held on
His midnight search, where soonest he might find
The serpent...
Related Themes:
Book 11
Explanation and Analysis—Noah's Ark:
In Book 11, the archangel Michael ushers Adam and Eve out of Paradise and shows Adam visions of future events to come—including striking imagery that tells the story of Noah's Ark (in which a simile is contained):
Unlock with LitCharts A+Meanwhile the south wind rose, and with black wings
Wide hovering, all the clouds together drove
From under heav’n; the hills to their supply
Vapour, and exhalation dusk and moist,
Sent up amain; and now the thickened sky
Like a dark ceiling stood; down rushed the rain
Impetuous, and continued till the earth
No more was seen; the floating vessel swum
Uplifted; and secure with beakèd prow
Rode tilting o’er the waves, all dwellings else
Flood overwhelmed, and them with all their pomp
Deep under water rolled; sea covered sea,
Sea without shore; and in their palaces
Where luxury late reigned, sea-monsters whelped
And stabled; of mankind, so numerous late,
All left, in one small bottom swum embarked.
Related Themes:
