As warm as …
A surprising simile, something as ordinary and comforting as warm tea, here poured differently to describe a stream of blood. ...
Hook, line and sinker
Orlando did in fact fall hook, line and sinker, so the metaphor of being hooked through the nose and dragged...
As large as …
An unusual simile for size, here referring to bubbles. Bubbles feature largely in Tarka the Otter, often blown by the...
As miraculous and consoling as…
I wish you some miraculous and consoling intimations that feel like Helen's hand laid across your brow.
'... an intimation...
Of merry audacious jays
Two fine metaphors here, describing the nature and the cry of jays, though the first of these is by now...
Borne on the evening breeze
In the midst of winter, on a drab-draped day, the memory of flower-garden odour borne on an evening breeze is...
Love and thought
This beautiful, measured poem by Michael Drayton (1563-1631), poet laureate, was written the night before he died, addressed to the woman he had...
Dark and small
What a powerful simile, conveying something inward-turning and dangerous through its vivid portrayal of cranial size as a small, corroded...
Varied like an ocean floor
And the more we learn about the ocean floor, the better it seems as a metaphor for variety. Curious to...
Collective contentment
Among the most cherished beings in Mervyn Peake's sprawling, imaginative Gormenghast, are the teeming masses of white cats belonging to...
The icy scabs of the earth
A depiction of the north and south ice caps, as 'icy scabs at either end of the earth'. And then...
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