Ministry of higher education, science and innovation of the republic of uzbekistan national university of uzbekistan

3.3 The usage and translation of simile in the poetic texts 
A simile is a figure of speech that compares two unlike things using the 
words “like” or “as.” Common similes include the descriptive phrases “cool as a 
cucumber,” “cold as ice,” and “sly like a fox.” Writers often use similes to 
introduce concrete images into writing about abstract concepts. For example, in 
Winston Groom’s 1986 novel Forrest Gump, the author uses the simile “life is like 
a box of chocolate.” Similes are a great way to make creative writing more exciting 
and memorable without losing clarity. 

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Similes and metaphors are both types of comparison and forms of figurative 
language. A simile is a type of metaphor, but there is a key difference between 
these literary terms. A simile compares two unrelated things using the words “like” 
or “as.” A metaphor, on the other hand, makes a direct comparison for rhetorical 
effect. Similes are simple comparisons to write because they follow an easy 
formula: “X is like Y.” Consider the following tips when writing similes: 
Add visuals. A simile can paint a picture of a particular character or situation 
in the reader’s mind. Make sure that the image is as vivid as possible. 
Be clear. Many strong similes use plain, everyday speech. Think about what 
you’re trying to compare and the context you’re doing it in. Does the simile fit the 
emotion of the scene? Does it fit the character or characters in that scene? 
Think of original ideas. Avoid clichés or similes that are common. Think 
about the imagery you’re trying to evoke for the reader, and don’t pick the first 
comparison that comes to your mind—this is usually the easy choice, and it won’t 
be as powerful as your second or third idea. 
Use similes sparingly. Similes are a great literary device to spice up your 
writing, but you should use similes sparingly; otherwise, they can become 
distracting to readers. The use of similes is widespread in song lyrics and literature 
because using similes can create vivid descriptions. Some famous simile examples 
from literature include: 
1. Romeo and Juliet (1597): In William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and 
Juliet, Lady Capulet likens the sight of her daughter’s death to that of a warning 
bell. “This sight of death is as a bell that warns my old age to a sepulcher.” 
2. “A Red, Red Rose” (1794): Scottish poet Robert Burns’s song “A Red, 
Red Rose” features several similes, comparing love to a rose. “O my luve's like a 
red, red rose, that's newly sprung in June; O my luve's like the melodie, that's 
sweetly played in tune.” 
3. “Daffodils” (1807): English poet William Wordsworth wrote the simile “I 
wandered lonely as a cloud that floats on high o’er vales and hills” in his 1807 
poem “Daffodils.” 

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4. A Christmas Carol (1843): In Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, the 
character Ebenezer Scrooge uses the simile “dead as a doornail” to describe 
Marley’s death. 
5. The Adventure of the Three Gables (1926): Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s 
Sherlock Holmes novel The Adventure of the Three Gables creatively describes a 
character using this simile: “She entered with ungainly struggle like some huge 
awkward chicken, torn, squawking, out of its coop.” 
6. The Handmaid’s Tale (1985): Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel The 
Handmaid’s Tale includes a simile likening a woman to sand. “Time has not stood 
still. It has washed over me, washed me away, as if I’m nothing more than a 
woman of sand, left by a careless child too near the water.” 
What Is the Difference Between Simile and Metaphor? Similes and 
metaphors are two closely related literary terms, and they are often confused for 
one another because they are both types of comparison and forms of figurative 
language (or non-literal language). 
In fact, similes are a type of metaphor, because metaphor is a general term to 
describe a comparison that is often poetic. Similes have two more specific 
attributes that make them a subset of metaphor: 
A simile uses like or as. This is the most basic requirement of a simile, and 
it’s an easy one to notice—all similes use either like or as to make their 
comparison. 
A simile is often more obvious than a metaphor. Similes are relatively more 
obvious when compared to metaphors because of their use of like or as—those two 
words act as flags to indicate to readers that the comparison is a simile. By using 
like or as, readers can recognize that they should suspend their disbelief for the 
comparison, because the writer isn’t attempting to convince readers that X is Y (as 
a metaphor would), but merely invite them to notice that X is like Y. 
Simile is a common stylistic device in literature. It is often a compositional 
technique or serves as a basis for unfolding an image. Simile is one of the most 
common means of achieving imagery in literary speech. Similes are widely used in 

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both prose and poetic artistic speech. Scientists also resort to them in order to 
popularly explain a phenomenon; they are used by publicists as a means of vivid 
speech expression. 
However, attributing Simile to lexical figurative means is to a certain extent 
conditional, since it is realized not only at the lexical level: Simile can be 
expressed by a word, a phrase, a comparative phrase, a subordinate clause, etc. The 
very assignment of Simile to tropes causes controversy among language 
researchers. Some believe that in Similes the meanings of words do not change; 
others argue that in this case, too, there is an “increment of meaning” and 
figurative Simile is an independent semantic unit. Only with this understanding of 
Simile can it be considered a trope in the exact meaning of the term. 
Simile is the Simile of one object with another for the purpose of an artistic 
description of the first. 
A.I.Efimov understands simile as a comparison of the described persons, 
characters, events, pictures with images that in most cases are well known to the 
reader. As a result of this juxtaposition, what is depicted is, as it were, concretized, 
becomes more obvious and expressive. 
N.P.Pototskaya points out that there is a certain common feature that unites 
these very concepts, phenomena, objects and persons. At the same time, she notes 
that the signs that unite similar objects, phenomena, are not transferred to the 
compared object, as is done when creating metaphors, but is clearly distinguished. 
According to N.P. Pototskaya, the object of Simile is a word denoting an 
object or person that is being compared; the second Simile component is defined as 
the Simile term. 
Z.I. Khovanskaya considers Simile to be the most significant stylistic device 
of the non-tropeic type. A Simile that singles out and characterizes certain 
properties of an image object by comparing it with another object or phenomenon 
has a number of linguistic features that have varying degrees of stability. 
M.P. Brandes relates Similes as a stylistic device to rhetorical means, that is, 
a system for organizing metaphorical (figurative) speech. 

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M.P. Brandes classifies tropes according to the nature of the associations 
that determine the replacement of the properties and signs of the phenomena of 
reality, as well as according to the transfer technique. According to the first sign, 
they identified the following groups of trails: 
- by similarity (metaphor, simile), 
- by connection and identity (metonymy), 
- in contrast (opposition, irony).
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The figures expressing the replacement of quality by similarity include 
similes, metaphors and varieties of the latter, which implement such a type of 
secondary nomination as the transfer of values based on the similarity of the object 
of the nomination with the object, the name of which is transferred to the object of 
the nomination. It is obvious that in this case we are talking about a metaphorical 
and metonymic simile, yet the rest of the similes should be attributed to the figures 
of combination, more precisely, to the figures of identity. 
In the figures of identity, the combination is carried out on the basis of 
combining the meanings of linguistic units related to the same subject and 
considered subjectively as identical. Figures of combination, according to M.P. 
Brandes, serve as a means of clarification, highlighting, emphasizing, that is, more 
means of figurative representation of content and less emotional expression. 
Similes can be classified from different points of view. This peculiar part of 
the vocabulary of any language can thus be described in different ways. For 
example, almost all researchers divide similes into two groups: 
Similes are accurate, without evaluative elements, the criterion for their 
selection is the use in a neutral style. 
Similes containing an evaluative element, or related to a certain style 
(sublime, familiar).The simile can be detailed and, sometimes, can turn into a 
metaphorical expression. 
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Baldwin E. Poem Analysis. Retrieved from (2021, February 11) https://poemanalysis.com/literary-
device/synecdoche/ 

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To the first group of similes N.P. Pototskaya, for example, classifies similes 
as neutral, accurate, pointing to objectively existing features. In any text (any 
speech style) they play the role of an objective informant. At the same time, 
phenomena of nature, events of the era, two specific objects, two faces are 
compared. As soon as an evaluative element is included in objective information, 
which is expressed not necessarily by simile, but by context, for example, or by 
some word, the simile loses its neutrality and passes into the second group. 
The second group of similes is similes that include an evaluative element or 
are stylistically colored, which represent two clearly distinguished groups: 
Traditional similes recorded by lexicography. 
Individual similes, including: traditional similes updated by a writer or 
journalist; individual stylistic neologisms. A rather large group of traditional 
similes is based on a simile of an object with the animal or plant world. Some of 
these similes are international.
Yu.Stepanov believes that similes, first of all, can be individual and 
generally accepted, stable. As for individual similes, they aim to characterize an 
object from a variety of points of view, but most often to reproduce its unique 
appearance. In generally accepted similes, however, a measure of quality is usually 
conveyed, while the quality itself must be expressed separately. 
Similes can also be analyzed from the point of view of the structure of their 
structure. Yu.Stepanov believes that individual similes most often consist of two 
parts - an indication of the object that is being compared (topic), and a description 
of the object that is being compared.
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In the example above, the individual simile is more of a metaphor, especially 
in form. Generally accepted similes, as a rule, belong to the norm of the language 
and usually consist of three parts: topics and similes, between which a separate 
indication of what they have in common is placed - this is the basis of simile. Each 
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Apresyan Yu. D. Research in semantics and lexicography. – M.: Languages of Slavic cultures, 2009. P. 
568. 

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base, expressed by an adjective, verb or noun, is assigned to one simile, due to 
which the entire phrase turns into a stable one. 
K.A. Dolinin calls the basis the sign by which the theme and the image of 
simile come together, i.e. action in verbal simile and quality in simile with 
adjective. 
A.I. Efimov distinguishes three components in the structure of simile: what 
is being compared (subject of simile); what is being compared with (simile object); 
basis of simile. 
Similes can also be classified in terms of how they are introduction to the 
text. In English, the simile gets a formal expression in the form of words such as: