Finding Similes and Metaphors in Poems

1. Finding Similes and Metaphors in Poems Many poems are brought to life through the use of smiles and metaphors. The meaning of the poems becomes clearer through the use of figurative language.

2. Similes—Comparisons of two unlike things using “like” or “as.” Example: “Your room looks like a hurricane hit it.” Metaphors—Comparisons of two unlike things without using “like” or “as.” Example: “Your room is a pigsty.”

3. The ToasterbyWilliam Jay Smith A silver-scaled Dragon with jaws flaming red Sits at my elbow and toasts my bread. I hand him fat slices, and then, one by one, He hands them back when he sees they are done.

4. Steam ShovelbyCharles Malam The dinosaurs are not all dead. I saw one raise its iron head To watch me walking down the road Beyond our house today. It’s jaws were dripping with a load Of earth and grass that it had cropped. It must have heard me where I stopped, Snorted white steam my way, And stretched its long neck out to see, And chewed and grinned quite amiably.

5. Apartment HousebyGerald Raftery A filing-cabinet of human lives Where people swarm like bees in tunneled hives. Each to his own cell in the towered comb, Identical and cramped—we call it home.

6. The Garden HosebyBeatrice Janosco In the gray evening I see a long green serpent With its tail in the dahlias. It lies in loops across the grass And drinks softly at the faucet. I can hear it swallow.

7. The Base Stealerby Robert Francis Poised between going on and back, pulled Both ways taut like a tightrope-walker, Fingertips pointing the opposites, Now bouncing tiptoe like a dropped ball Or a kid skipping rope, come on, come on, Running a scattering of steps sidewise, How he teeters, skitters, tingles, teases, Taunts them, hovers like an ecstatic bird, He’s only flirting, crowd him, crowd him, Delicate, delicate, delicate, delicate—now!

8. DreamsbyLangston Hughes Hold fast to dreams For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly. Hold fast to dreams For when dreams go Life is a barren field Frozen with snow.

9. Mother to Sonby Langston Hughes Don’t you set down on the steps ‘Cause you finds it’s kinder hard. Don’t you fall now— For I’se still goin’, honey, I’se still climbin’ And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. Well, son, I’ll tell you: Life for me aint’ been no crystal stair. It’s had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor— Bare. But all the time I’se been a-climbin’ on, And reachin’ landin’s, And turnin’ corners, And sometimes goin’ in the dark Where there ain’t been no light, So boy, don’t you turn back.