Simile poems use the literary device of similes to draw comparisons between two different things, enhancing imagery and emotional impact. A simile , in most cases, directly compares two things using the words “like” or “as,” making the descriptions more relatable and imaginative. These poems can range across various themes and emotions, offering readers a unique and engaging way to understand complex concepts through simple yet powerful comparisons.
‘The Cricket Sang’ by Emily Dickinson describes the simple yet beautiful routine the world goes through as day becomes night.
There is a great example of a simile in the second stanza. As the evening progresses dew builds up and “Twilight” comes to stand still and polite like a stranger. It is an in-between time that is not quite day or night. The stranger does not know whether to come or go, it is stuck trying to find its way between two places.
‘The Fish’ by Elizabeth Bishop is considered to be one of her best poems. In it, readers can find some clues about her personal life.
This is a seventy-six line narrative poem that describes a speaker’s reaction after catching a venerable, homely and large fish. The spewer in this piece, who is perhaps Bishop herself, describes going fishing and reeling in a fish that didn’t fit at all. She spends the bulk of the poem using similes and metaphors to describe what it looks like. She compares its scales to old wallpaper that is peeling off the walls of an ancient house and predicts that its insides will appear as though they are packed in like feathers.
‘Deceptions’ by Philip Larkin is a dark poem that tells a chilling tale. It focuses on the rape of a young woman and how she, and her attacker, were changed because of the event.
This poem tells of the aftermath of a young woman’s rape and the way both rapist and victim were changed. The imagery in this poem is poignant, as are the allusions and connections and contemporary life. The poem begins with Larkin utilizing a passage from Henry Mayhew’s work, London Labour and the London Poor and then goes to to describe how the woman’s grief was forced upon her when she was raped. It is something the speaker is able to “taste” now and is doing his best to convey.
Christina Rossetti’s ‘Goblin Market,’ narrates the fantastical tale of Laura and Lizzie, delving into sin, redemption, and sisterhood.
'Goblin Market' is replete with recurring nature similes conjuring serene nature imagery and accentuating the sisters' beauty, purity, and elegance. Notably, the poem combines anaphora and similes as the bunch of successive lines starts with 'like' throughout, creating a rhythmic cadence that enhances the dramatic effect and emphasizes particular high points, characteristics, and scenes, making them last in readers' memory, for instance, when Laura looks at goblins for fruits she is described as, 'Like a rush-imbedded swan, / Like a lily from the beck, / Like a moonlit poplar branch, / Like a vessel at the launch,'—the imagery aptly captures Laura's delicacy, beauty, innocence, curiosity, and anxiety while the sonic effect creates nervousness foreshadowing the dark events.
‘Lovesong’ by Ted Hughes is a six stanza poem that is separated into uneven sets of lines. The text is framed by two-line couplets that contain increasingly longs verses towards the third stanza.
The poem states that the two are doing everything they can to “keep” one another until the very end of this “moment”. They know that eventually things are going to change and that they’re going to have to go back to their real lives. In the third stanza Hughes uses several similes to compare their two different similes.
He loved her and she loved him. His kisses sucked out her whole past and future or tried to He had no other appetite She bit him she gnawed him she sucked
In this poem, Thomas’ speaker describes a strange encounter between two men in a forest on a morning at the beginning of the year.
The speaker comes upon a man in the woods in the first lines. He describes, in a mysterious tone, how he saw the “tripod man”. He was leaning over a rake and working on the leaves newly fallen from the trees. When the speaker approached they greeted one another and the man went back to raking. There are several similes in this poem, for example “far less like a man than / His wheel-barrow in profile was like a pig”. This line is used to describe the silhouette the speaker first encountered and how he interpreted it.
He was the one man I met up in the woods
That stormy New Year’s morning; and at first sight,
In ‘Sex Without Love’ Olds asks the reader to consider the implications of relationships based on sex rather than emotional love.
In this poem the speaker confronts the reader with the differencing between relationships based on love and those based on sex. She depicts aspects of both and makes the judgment that loving relationships are more important. The lovers she describes are “like read steak” and ice skaters that glide across the ice.
‘Tulips’ by Sylvia Plath is a personal and confessional poem exploring the poet’s mental state and innermost emotions.
In this complex poem Plath speaks on her time in the hospital. In addition to her desire to enter death peacefully without the visual or emotional interruption of the bright red tulips. The similes and metaphors at work in ‘Tulips’ are one of the most important parts of the poem. The former is seen through several comparisons such as in Plath’s descriptions of her body. As well as her experiences with drugs in the hospital, and the longing she has for peace.
The tulips are too excitable, it is winter here.
Look how white everything is, how quiet, how snowed-in.
I am learning peacefulness, lying by myself quietly
As the light lies on these white walls, this bed, these hands.
Montague’s ‘The Water Carrier’ evokes nostalgia through vivid memories of fetching water, blending nature with deep reflection.
In this poem Montague explores them of nature and nostalgia. The next contains memories of childhood and the chore of water carrying that the speaker frequently engaged in. Montague uses several similes in this poem. These include one example where he compares, “you,” the intended listener of the poem, to a portrait of an “Egyptian water-carrier”.
Twice daily I carried water from the spring, Morning before leaving for school, and evening; Balanced as a fulcrum between two buckets.
‘Awaking in New York’ by Maya Angelou is filled with beautiful imagery. She depicts what it is like to wake up in New York City from a specific point of view.
In this thoughtful and powerful poem the speaker describes her experience waking up in New York. In addition to how the rest of the world was existing around her. Angelou uses a simile to compare her speaker, memorably, to a “rumour of war”. This is a complex and interesting comparison that will most certainly mean different things to different readers.
‘Liable to Floods’ exposes the deadly cost of ignoring wisdom, as a major’s hubris dooms his men to floodwaters’ wrath.
In the seventh stanza of ‘Liable to Floods,’ Sheers makes use of two similes. In the first line (perhaps the most thought-provoking line in the entire poem), the poet compares the river water to ink. To depict how it floods its nearby areas, the poet uses an image of bleeding uncontrollably.
'Liable to floods' the farmer warned them.
And on the map, the letters arcing down the valley
Written after the death of his wife, Emma Hardy, ‘Rain on a Grave’ is a moving, deeply emotional poem that taps into the emotional qualities of nature.
Hardy uses a touching simile near the end of the poem that brings beauty to the sorrow. He describes daisies on her grave as looking like stars on the ground. This comparison gives a gentle picture of her memory living on through nature. It adds emotional warmth to the poem and offers comfort to both the speaker and the reader. The simile helps capture how something beautiful can still grow out of deep sadness.
‘Where We Belong, A Duet’ by Maya Angelou is an uplifting poem about how satisfying finding a true connection to another person can be.
The most powerful simile in the poem compares a loved one to a sunrise. This one image brings everything together. It captures warmth, hope, and healing without needing to say much more. The poem does not rely on too many comparisons, but the ones that are used carry real weight. The simile works well because it is placed at a turning point, showing how one person can bring light and peace after a long period of searching.
‘Palanquin Bearers’ is a celebratory poem in which a bride is transported to her new husband’s house in a traditional palanquin. The men carrying her sing in joy and help create the mood of celebration that runs through the poem.
Simile is used throughout the poem as a way to describe the woman's beauty. She is compared to various natural phenomenon in both stanzas. By using these similes the palanquin bearers can express exactly how they feel about the woman they are carrying.
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