Immediately after the scene in which the Fisherman and his Soul separate from each other, the narrator captures the Fisherman’s sense of freedom and excitement using a pair of similes, as seen in the following passage:

And his Soul besought him piteously, but he heeded it not, but leapt from crag to crag, being sure-footed as a wild goat, and at last he reached the level ground and the yellow shore of the sea.

Bronze-limbed and well-knit, like a statue wrought by a Grecian, he stood on the sand with his back to the moon, and out of the foam came white arms that beckoned to him, and out of the waves rose dim forms that did him homage.

The first simile here—in which the Fisherman is compared to “a wild goat”—captures the man’s excited movements as he leaps his way toward the sea. It is clear from these “wild” leaps that the Fisherman is eager to be reunited with the Mermaid and to live with her in the sea. The second simile—in which the narrator describes the “bronze-limbed” and “well-knit” Fisherman as being “like a statue wrought by a Grecian”—helps readers understand the Fisherman’s sense of virility and power in this moment, after a long and tiresome search for a way to rid himself of his soul.

These two similes—as well as the surrounding descriptions—paint a clear picture of the Fisherman’s love for the Mermaid. Romantic love is such an all-consuming force for the man that he willingly and excitedly rids himself of his own soul.