Simple Simile
The simile is most effective when it is simple. The reason for this is that the entire purpose of the comparison contained within a simile is to take a literary shortcut to presenting an image easily understood without wasting words. The following is an effective example of how to take this shortcut while displaying creative flair:
“The fellow’s on her like a louse in a bitch’s ear.”
Play on Words
An effective technique for the simple metaphor is to create a play on words. A simple metaphor is one that makes a comparison between two things directly, bypassing the “like” and “as” of the simile by substituting a verb like “is.” The following breaks the comparison down to its most basic level, but ups the ante with a play on words in which “paper” becomes “tissue.”
. “Foulke’s paper is a tissue of absurdities.”
Extending the Metaphor
In contrast to the simple simile, there is the extension of the comparison in which the metaphor is expanded upon, drawn out or made more specific to intensity the effect:
“Wellington had been ennobled, and had held the highest office in the land. But in modern England he was vilified as a swaggering brute, a second King John, the butcher of his own restless people.”
“She was a bride of science.”
This metaphorical description applies to the character of Lady Ada Byron, the real life historical figure who was the daughter of Lord Byron and mathematical genius who was often referred to as the world’s first computer programmer.
The REALLY Extended Metaphor
Typically, the longer a metaphor is carried out, the funnier it becomes. This is not a hard and fast rule, but this example reveals how the unwritten aspect of this general concept works. Add a few more details to draw it out for another half dozen words or so and it would threaten to verge into the comical rather than tragic, as intended:
“His ideals would be lost—not just misplaced but utterly expunged from history, to be crushed again and again, like the carcass of a mongrel dog under the racketing wheels of an express train.”
