Similes, Metaphors & Extended Metaphors: Sixth Grade English Literary Devices
Figurative language enables writers to transcend literal declarations, forging striking imaginative comparisons that illuminate complex emotions, atmospheres, and ideas.
The Architecture of Figurative Comparisons
Literal language means exactly what it states: "The desert wind was hot and dry." Figurative language, however, uses words beyond their literal definitions to create vivid mental images and emotional resonance: "The desert wind was a furnace blast scouring the dunes."
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| FIGURATIVE COMPARISON SPECTRUM |
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| Comparison Device | Defining Mechanism | Mentor Model Example |
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| Simile | Compares two unlike | The mountain ridge cut like a |
| | things using "like" | razor against the frozen sky. |
| | or "as" | |
| Metaphor | Directly asserts one| The mountain ridge was a jagged|
| | thing IS another; no| razor slicing the frozen sky. |
| | comparative words | |
| Extended | Sustains a metaphor | A metaphor developed across an |
| Metaphor | across multiple | entire poem, stanza, or chapter|
| | lines or paragraphs | with layered comparisons. |
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Deconstructing the Simile
A simile explicitly compares two fundamentally dissimilar things using connective words such as "like," "as," "than," or "resembles." In "The submarine moved as silently as a prowling leopard," the mechanical vehicle is compared to an apex predator. The connective word "as" preserves the distinct identities of both items while highlighting their shared trait of stealth.
The Direct Assertion of Metaphor
A metaphor creates an immediate, poetic identity between two unlike items by stating that one thing is another (without using "like" or "as"). In "The abandoned factory was an iron dinosaur rusting in the weeds," the writer does not literally mean prehistoric bones are present; rather, the metaphor evokes obsolescence, massive scale, and extinction.
Extended Metaphors: Sustained Thematic Comparisons
An extended metaphor (also called a conceit) unfolds over several sentences, an entire stanza, or throughout a complete essay or poem, examining multiple points of comparison.
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| EXTENDED METAPHOR ARCHITECTURAL MODEL |
| |
| CENTRAL METAPHOR: "Life is a perilous ocean voyage." |
| |
| - Anchor / Extension 1: "Childhood represents calm, sheltered bays." |
| - Anchor / Extension 2: "Adversity arrives as sudden squalls and gales"|
| - Anchor / Extension 3: "Values and principles serve as the compass." |
| - Anchor / Extension 4: "Old age drops anchor in a quiet harbor." |
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Analyzing Emily Dickinson's "Hope is the thing with feathers"
A famous literary extended metaphor is Emily Dickinson's poem where hope is metaphorically portrayed as a bird: "Hope is the thing with feathers / That perches in the soul / And sings the tune without the words / And never stops at all." Dickinson extends the metaphor across multiple stanzas, describing how the bird sings through gale winds and keeps hearts warm without ever asking for a single crumb.
Identifying Mixed Metaphors and Clichés
Skilled writers avoid clichés (overused comparisons like "busy as a bee" or "cold as ice") and mixed metaphors (clashing comparisons collided together).
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| MIXED METAPHOR COLLISION |
| |
| CLASHED: "We must take the bull by the horns and steer the ship |
| through the storm." |
| |
| ANALYSIS: You cannot steer a nautical ship by grabbing bovine horns! |
| The two metaphors cancel each other out and create ridiculous imagery. |
| |
| REVISED: "We must take the helm and steer the ship through the storm."|
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Exercises and Solutions
Exercise 1: Analyzing Metaphorical Comparisons. Read the following excerpt and explain in a cohesive paragraph whether each comparison is a simile, a metaphor, or an extended metaphor, identifying the two things being compared and the meaning conveyed: "The library was a silent cathedral of thought. Sunlight poured through tall arched windows like liquid amber, illuminating dust motes that swirled like suspended stars. Here, rows of leather-bound books stood like solemn sentries guarding the accumulated wisdom of centuries."
Solution 1: The excerpt opens with the metaphor "The library was a silent cathedral of thought," directly asserting that the secular room of books possesses the reverence, vast silence, and grandeur of a sacred cathedral without using comparative words. Next, the sentence features two similes: "like liquid amber" compares the golden sunlight to warm glowing resin using "like," and "swirled like suspended stars" compares the drifting dust motes to celestial bodies using "like." Finally, the last sentence presents another simile: "stood like solemn sentries," comparing the vertical rows of books to vigilant guards protecting timeless intellectual treasures. Together, these unified comparisons establish a reverent, awe-inspiring mood.
Exercise 2: Composing an Extended Metaphor. Write an original extended metaphor of at least four sentences comparing "a difficult homework assignment" to "climbing a jagged mountain peak." In a detailed paragraph, explain how each sentence develops the comparison.
Solution 2: "Tackling this complex mathematics assignment was like scaling a vertical granite precipice without safety ropes. The opening word problems were gentle footholds along the lower slopes, deceptive in their ease. Suddenly, question seven loomed overhead as an impassable rock overhang, threatening to send my concentration tumbling into the chasm below. With slow, methodical calculations, I hammered pitons of logic into the stone until I finally stood victorious upon the summit of the final equation." In this extended metaphor, the essay opens with a foundational simile comparing the assignment to a mountain climb. The subsequent sentences extend the comparison by equating basic problems to lower footholds, a difficult question to an overhang, logical steps to climbing pitons, and the completed solution to standing upon the summit.