The Demon Lover
by Elizabeth Bowen

The Demon Lover: Similes 1 key example

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 The Demon Lover

Similes
Explanation and Analysis—Dissolved Like Smoke:

As Mrs. Drover frets over memories of her fiancé, she tells herself that she doesn't remember what he "did" to make her "promise"—but it's unclear what, exactly, she promised. Nevertheless, the narrative contradicts Mrs. Drover's claim that she doesn't remember, using a simile to illustrate the extent to which the memory of her fiancé overtakes—and disconcerts—her in this moment:

What did he do, to make me promise like that? I can’t remember — But she found that she could.

She remembered with such dreadful acuteness that the twenty-five years since then dissolved like smoke and she instinctively looked for the weal left by the button on the palm of her hand.