"The blaze of that brush-wood will only last a minute or two longer" (25) (Metaphor)
Silas Foster's observation of the fire that roars in the hearth at the beginning of the novel is a metaphor for the short-lived glow, luster, and excitement of the Blithedale experience.
"I hope, on the contrary, now to produce something that shall really deserve to be called poetry,—true, strong, natural, and sweet, as is the life which we are going to lead,—something that shall have the notes of wild birds twittering through it, or a strain like the wind anthems in the woods, as the case may be" (14) (Simile)
Here, Zenobia compares poetry to the natural beauty of birds in the wild.
"'Sluggish hospitality this!' said he, in those deep tones of his, which seemed to come out of a chest as capacious as a barrel" (26) (Simile)
Coverdale uses this simile to describe the masculine stature of Hollingsworth.
Transcending the darkness of illness (Metaphor)
Coverdale uses the metaphor of creeping out through a doorway through darkness to his deliverance from his illness and his readiness for a new life.
"We handed him such food as we had, together with a brown jug of molasses and water (would that it had been brandy, or some thing better, for the sake of his chill old heart!), like priests offering dainty sacrifice to an enshrined and invisible idol" (83) (Simile)
Coverdale uses religious language to convey the air of ceremony with which Moodie was fed.
