The simile of Rosebuds and columns of ruin
The narrator compares the purple-starred hepatica to a rosebud to show readers relations in nature and how organisms coexist harmoniously. The narrator says, “The purple-starred hepatica spreads itself in the sun, and the clustering snow-drops put forth their white heads, at first upright, ribbed with green, and like a rosebud when completely opened, hanging their heads downwards, but slowly lengthening their slender stems." The narrator also compares the shafts of the trees to the columns of ruin. The narrator says, “Upon the highest ridge of that round hill covered with planted oaks, the shafts of the trees show in the light like the columns of a ruin.”
The simile of the basin
When the narrator moves to the hill, she starts looking at the beauty of nature that overlooks the countryside. The landscape is captivating, and the brown fallows stand out, and they resemble a green shade. The narrator says, "Brown fallows, the springing wheat, like a shade of green over the brown earth, and the choice meadow plots, full of sheep and lambs, of a soft and vivid green; a few wreaths of blue smoke, spreading along the ground; the oaks and beeches in the hedges retaining their yellow leaves; the distant prospect on the land side, islanded with sunshine; the sea, like a basin full to the margin; the dark fresh-plowed fields; the turnips of a lively rough green.”
Darker clouds
On a mild morning, the narrator observes vapor moving towards the seashore in the distant country, compared to the darker clouds. The narrator writes, “The distant country (which was purple in the clear dull air), overhung by straggling clouds that sailed over it, appeared like the darker clouds, which are often seen at a great distance motionless, while the nearer ones pass quickly over them, driven by the lower winds.”
