A Simile Is a Literary Device
When you write using a simile, you write to compare…
This is like that.
That is as this.
A simile can be used to comic effect. Think Shakespeare’s line, “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun.” Or, take the fun French idiom to describe someone’s handwriting: You “write like a cat”.
A simile can, conversely, be used in a lovely way. “Fair as a star…” says Wordsworth, in praise of his Lucy. And, on a day he discovered beauty that would stay with him: “I wandered lonely as a cloud…”
Poetry Prompt
Make a list of things that fit a category you want to consider in your poem: something lovely, or lonely, or surprising, or mysterious.
For example, if you choose the category of “mysterious,” you might list words such as:
• lantern
• unicorn
• ship
• ghost
• old house
Then you’d consider which of these might work in a mysterious poem.
For example, here’s a quick poem that compares the night to a lantern for mysterious effect.
The night like a lantern
came slowly to me,
speaking my name
in hushed tones
in soft flame.
So choose a category, make your list, and use “like” or “as” in your poem to compare one thing to another from your list.
Photo by Anna Tsukanova, Creative Commons, via Unsplash.
Related…
More poetry terms
More Shakespeare
More Wordsworth
- The Beachy Poem Challenge - July 13, 2026
- 10 Things Poets & Writers Can Do with the Small Moments - July 6, 2026
- Poetry in Prose—Where Love Is Born - June 22, 2026
Glynn Young Jr says
Reminds me of that old kids’ joke: “Your ears are like flowers – cauliflowers. Your teeth are like stars – they come out at night.”
L.L. Barkat says
Ha. 🙂 The first one: a pun and a simile rolled into one! And the poetic devices stack up. 🙂