Simile and Metaphor

Simile

• A comparison made explicit by the use of the words “like” and “as”
• Example: The woman’s beauty is like the red rose
• Example: The man is strong as a bear

Metaphor

• An implicit comparison between two things that are vastly different from each other but shares some characteristics
• The woman’s beauty are red roses

Tenor

• The literal subject of comparison
• In the example, the man is strong as a bear, the man is the tenor

Vehicle

• The thing that the subject is being compared to
• In the example, the man is strong as a bear, the bear is the vehicle