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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
Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—Adrift on the Moors:
Burnett often uses similes that compare the moor surrounding Misselthwaite Manor to the sea, making its bareness and desolation at the beginning of the novel seem even more profound. Mary already feels stranded and isolated after the death of the life she knew in India. She is unsettled by the unfamiliar soundscape upon arriving in Yorkshire in Chapter 3, when she has to ask her caretaker Mrs. Medlock what she is hearing:
A wind was rising and making a singular, wild, low, rushing sound. “It’s—it’s not the sea, is it?” said Mary, looking round at her companion. “No, not it,” answered Mrs. Medlock. “Nor it isn’t fields nor mountains, it’s just miles and miles and miles of wild land that nothing grows on but heather and gorse and broom, and nothing lives on but wild ponies and sheep.” “I feel as if it might be the sea, if there were water on it,” said Mary. “It sounds like the sea just now.”
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—The Vault :
Burnett uses a simile to liken Archibald Craven's house Misselthwaite Manor to the covering of a coffin when Mary first arrives at her uncle's home in Chapter 3. As she and Mrs Medlock pass through the gates, the narrator tells us that:
Unlock with LitCharts A+[...] When the carriage passed through the park gates there was still two miles of avenue to drive through and the trees (which nearly met overhead) made it seem as if they were driving through a long dark vault. They drove out of the vault into a clear space and stopped before an immensely long but low-built house which seemed to ramble round a stone court.
Related Themes:
Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—The Wind Wutherin':
At the beginning of The Secret Garden the harsh and wintry weather of Yorkshire seems hostile to the young and intractable Mary Lennox. It is so different from the India of her childhood that it is actively frightening. In Chapter 13, she is especially unsettled by the wind blowing around the house:
Unlock with LitCharts A+She did not cry, but she lay and hated the sound of the heavily beating rain, she hated the wind and its “wuthering.” She could not go to sleep again. The mournful sound kept her awake because she felt mournful herself. If she had felt happy it would probably have lulled her to sleep. How it “wuthered” and how the big raindrops poured down and beat against the pane! “It sounds just like a person lost on the moor and wandering on and on crying,” [...]
Related Themes:
Chapter 13
Explanation and Analysis—The Wind Wutherin':
At the beginning of The Secret Garden the harsh and wintry weather of Yorkshire seems hostile to the young and intractable Mary Lennox. It is so different from the India of her childhood that it is actively frightening. In Chapter 13, she is especially unsettled by the wind blowing around the house:
Unlock with LitCharts A+She did not cry, but she lay and hated the sound of the heavily beating rain, she hated the wind and its “wuthering.” She could not go to sleep again. The mournful sound kept her awake because she felt mournful herself. If she had felt happy it would probably have lulled her to sleep. How it “wuthered” and how the big raindrops poured down and beat against the pane! “It sounds just like a person lost on the moor and wandering on and on crying,” [...]
Related Themes:
Chapter 16
Explanation and Analysis—A Moorland Angel:
In Chapter 18, when Mary is describing her new friend Dickon to Colin Craven, she accidentally provokes Colin's jealousy by insisting that Dickon is "like an angel!" Burnett uses situational irony to amuse the reader in this instance, but also to illustrate Mary's real and unblemished love for this charming young Yorskhireman:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“He’s nicer than any other boy that ever lived!” she said. “He’s—he’s like an angel!” It might sound rather silly to say that but she did not care. “A nice angel!” Colin sneered ferociously. “He’s a common cottage boy off the moor!” “He’s better than a common Rajah!” retorted Mary. “He’s a thousand times better!”
Related Themes:
Chapter 18
Explanation and Analysis—A Moorland Angel:
In Chapter 18, when Mary is describing her new friend Dickon to Colin Craven, she accidentally provokes Colin's jealousy by insisting that Dickon is "like an angel!" Burnett uses situational irony to amuse the reader in this instance, but also to illustrate Mary's real and unblemished love for this charming young Yorskhireman:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“He’s nicer than any other boy that ever lived!” she said. “He’s—he’s like an angel!” It might sound rather silly to say that but she did not care. “A nice angel!” Colin sneered ferociously. “He’s a common cottage boy off the moor!” “He’s better than a common Rajah!” retorted Mary. “He’s a thousand times better!”
Related Themes:
Chapter 21
Explanation and Analysis—The Mother in the Garden:
Burnett uses similes involving personification to make the reader feel that Colin Craven's mother is present in the "secret garden" even after her death. Through the "voice" of the narrator, the novel details several instances where the natural world takes on characteristics already attributed to Lilias Craven. For example, in Chapter 21 when Colin, Mary and Dickon all go into the "secret garden" together for the first time:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Between the blossoming branches of the canopy bits of blue sky looked down like wonderful eyes.
Related Themes:
