simile

simile sĭmˈəlē [key] [Lat.,=likeness], in rhetoric, a figure of speech in which an object is explicitly compared to another object. Robert Burns's poem “A Red Red Rose” contains two straightforward similes:My love is like a red, red roseThat's newly sprung in June:My love is like the melodyThat's sweetly played in tune.The epic, or Homeric, simile is an elaborate, formal, and sustained simile derived from those of Homer.

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