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Genuine similes are always original and unexpected. From the semantic point of
view we distinguish the following types of similes:
1. similes of quality:
The
difference
between the two ideas is
as deep as the sea
.
2. similes of action:
The clerks in the office jumped about like sailors during a storm.
3. similes of relation.
As the dew to the blossom, the bud to the bee.
As the scent to the rose, are those memories to me.
( E.B. Webby ).
4. similes-analogies. Two ideas are compared:
As on the fingers of a thronged queen.
The basest jewel will be well esteemed.
So are those errors that in the are seen.
To truth translated and for true things deemed.
(W. Shakespeare. Sonnet 96).
Similes as a rule are grammatically formed with the help of special words: link -
words. There are several ways of expressing this link - word:
1. morphological way with the help of a comparative degree.
The human heart can suffer. It can hold more tears than the ocean holds waters
(Ch. Bronte)
2. lexical way, with the help of conjunctions: like, as, as if, as though.
The man said yes, as they passed in, looked at Paul as if he were a little mouse
and the house were a trap.
/ Dickens /
3. similes formed with the
help of adverbs - so, thus.
4. with the help of words: resemble, seem, compare, remind.
Her hands seemed to be made of cool ivory.
Every component of simile
can be expressed by one word, a group of words. It
can extend as far as a complex sentence with many subordinate clauses. From the point
of view of compositional structure there are two types of similes:
1. simile
within a sentence
2. simile within a syntactical unit which may extend as far as the whole paragraph.
As an imperfect actor on the stage
Who with his fear is put besides his part,
Or some fierce thing replaced with too much rage
So I, for fear of trust, forget to say
The perfect ceremony of love's rite,
And in my own love's strength seem to decay,
Overcharged with burden of mine own love's might
(W. Shakespeare. Sonnet 23).
The main stylistic function of
simile is to create images, to express emotions and to
stress this or that feature of an of object or phenomenon.
Sometimes simile produce
humorous and satiric effect.
And he is about as beautiful as a cab leaning against Opera House at 12.30
dreaming of the plains of Arabic.
(O’Henry),