| Simile | Comparing one thing with another thing using ‘like’ or ‘as’. | The snow is like a blanket |
| Metaphor | Saying that something is another thing | The snow is a blanket |
| Personification | Giving a nonliving object living characteristics. | The grass danced. |
| Onomatopoeia | A word that is also a sound. | Pop, bang and fizz. |
| Hyperbole | An exaggeration that is not supposed to be taken literally. | The soup was so hot, I almost died. |
| Alliteration | Multiple words in a row that start with the same letter. | She sells seashells by the seashore. |
“Mrs Pratchett” by Roald Dahl
The sweet-shop in Llandaff in the year 1923 was the very centre of our lives. To us, it was what a bar is to a drunk, or a church is to a Bishop. Without it, there would have been little to live for. But it had one terrible drawback, this sweet-shop. The woman who owned it was a horror. We hated her and we had good reason for doing so.
Her name was Mrs Pratchett. She was a small skinny old hag with a moustache on her upper lip and a mouth as sour as a gooseberry. She never smiled. She never welcomed us when we went in, and the only times she spoke were when she said things like, “I’m watchin’ you so keep yer thievin’ fingers of them chocolates!” Or “I don’t want you in ‘ere just to look around! Either you forks out or you gets out!”
But by far the most loathsome thing about Mrs Pratchett was the filth that clung around her. Her apron was grey and greasy. Her blouse had bits of breakfast all over it, toast-crumbs and tea stains and splotches of dried egg-yolk. It was her hands, however, that disturbed us most. They were disgusting. They were black with dirt and grime. They looked as though they had been putting lumps of coal on the fire all day long.
In this text the author uses multiple similes and also a hyperbole, this was used when the storyteller stated, ‘Without it, there would have been little to live for.’ This makes the sweetshop seem more important and essential for the storyteller and also gives a greater effect of how much the sweetshop is loved. The use of dialogue gives an insight more on how the lady that owns the sweetshop acts. It tells us that she doesn’t like children very much and is also very grouchy and cautious of young people. The picture is painted in our minds of the lady that owns the sweetshop using very descriptive words and makes her appear unkempt and dirty.
Examples from literature…
Work through these outstanding examples of poetic comparison.
Underline the key part of each literary technique. Explain what the effect of the technique is.
- “. . . she tried to get rid of the kitten which had scrambled up her back and stuck like a burr just out of reach.” — Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
Simile: it makes it seem like it was impossible to remove and is more impactful.
- “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.” — The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
Simile: It makes the emotion in the sentence more vivid and gives off a sad vibe from the character.
- “. . . and snow lay here and there in patches in the hollow of the banks, like a lady’s gloves forgotten.” — Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor, by R. D. Blackmore
Simile: It makes the description feel slightly deserted and also makes the snow seem unimportant or unappreciated.
- “I would have given anything for the power to soothe her frail soul, tormenting itself in its invincible ignorance like a small bird beating about the cruel wires of a cage.” — Lord Jim, by Joseph Conrad
Simile: It makes the description feel a lot more aching and that there is a lot of sorrow and suffering in the description.
- “She entered with ungainly struggle like some huge awkward chicken, torn, squawking, out of its coop.” — The Adventure of the Three Gables, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Simile: It makes the description feel like the person is clumsy or very weak at the time.
- “The very mystery of him excited her curiosity like a door that had neither lock nor key.” — Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
Simile: it makes the sentence more intriguing with the mystery because people want to know what they can’t.
- “It was Françoise, motionless and erect, framed in the small doorway of the corridor like the statue of a saint in its niche.” — Swann’s Way, by Marcel Proust
Simile: it portrays the subject in an even more still stance than possible for a human.
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