The word 'like'

[vampiredust]

I'm curious about the word like in poetry. I was discussing similes with my creative writing teacher at uni and he seemed to think that using the word 'like' was a very bad thing (the word 'as' was equally bad) in poetry because there is a difficulty in comparing two things together

I'm confused now, I thought similes were always a good thing

 

[Wolk]

I don't know much about poetry, but there is one thing I definitely learned in my school and university experience with humanities, especially literature: nothing is ever "always" or "for certain". The subject seems to be all about opinions and each authority has his or her own. Almost always, they conflict with one another. Your prof might think comparing two things as a creative device is bad, but I've heard it be encouraged, and personally think you can have some beautiful things with it.

My scientific mind's theory on the subject is this. Human mind works associatively, much like a neural network, although more complex. Words get mapped directly onto concepts, only activating those neurons associated with it and not others. When we speak in everyday language, we use the most direct and clear words, which means no connections are excited between similar concepts. If I say a black cat, the only neurons that get excited are the ones that deal with the concept of blackness and concept of a cat. The connection between them is reinforced, and nothing else.

But if I say "a cat, black like a moonless night", you suddenly have in your brain connections activated between so many usually unconnected concepts: cat and night, cat and moon. This makes the brain work in ways it usually doesn't, and it feels good, kind of like flexing a muscle, which you usually don't use much. From this theory's point of view, similes are a very good thing.

 

[Lauren Hynde]

I'm curious about the word like in poetry. I was discussing similes with my creative writing teacher at uni and he seemed to think that using the word 'like' was a very bad thing (the word 'as' was equally bad) in poetry because there is a difficulty in comparing two things together

I'm confused now, I thought similes were always a good thing

Well, as a general principle, I always try to avoid the word "like" in a simile. It just seems wrong.

I don't think that's what your teacher was referring to, though.

A simile, or comparison, is a trope. And as far as tropes go, it is the most simple, most basic, mostly widely used, and the one with the least poetic value. You have such a wide range of figure of speech of the same type - metaphor, image, allegory, irony, euphemism, disphemism, synecdoche, metonymy, etc - at your disposal, figures of speech capable of being much more effective in poetry, that to fall back on similes often undermines the poem itself.

Your teacher probably wasn't saying that similes were a bad thing, but that if you were to choose between "a cat, black like a moonless night" and "a cat of moonless night", the metaphor might beat the simile every time.

 

[Angeline]

Well, as a general principle, I always try to avoid the word "like" in a simile. It just seems wrong.

I don't think that's what your teacher was referring to, though.

A simile, or comparison, is a trope. And as far as tropes go, it is the most simple, most basic, mostly widely used, and the one with the least poetic value. You have such a wide range of figure of speech of the same type - metaphor, image, allegory, irony, euphemism, disphemism, synecdoche, metonymy, etc - at your disposal, figures of speech capable of being much more effective in poetry, that to fall back on similes often undermines the poem itself.

Your teacher probably wasn't saying that similes were a bad thing, but that if you were to choose between "a cat, black like a moonless night" and "a cat of moonless night", the metaphor might beat the simile every time.

Yes.

a cat, moonless, is the night that stalks
with streetlamp eyes and auto purr

That's a metaphor that extends the image: a cat slinking through a city street. It gives the reader the notion of cat, streetlights, and cars without comparing anything to anything else.

I use similes a lot when I write and then I usually edit them out by turning the simile into a metaphor because less suggests more in poetry.

Metaphor is better for implying a tone as well.

 

[Liar]

I wouldn't rule out the similie all together though. it's a question of style, intention and situation. Sometimes, a metaphor can look very out of place.

 

[Angeline]

I wouldn't rule out the similie all together though. it's a question of style, intention and situation. Sometimes, a metaphor can look very out of place.

I am of the opinion that nothing is "bad" in writing if you can make it work.

 

[Lauren Hynde]

I wouldn't rule out the similie all together though. it's a question of style, intention and situation. Sometimes, a metaphor can look very out of place.

I don't think anyone would rule similes out altogether. A simile is an explicit, straight up comparison between two things. Obviously there are situations in poetry when that's what you want. But "explicit" and "straight up" find their place more often in reporting prose than in poetry.

 

[TheRainMan]

I am of the opinion that nothing is "bad" in writing if you can make it work.

me too.

 

[Angeline]

me too.

Mornin Rainy. How are my beaches this morning? It's frosty here (and we had snow flurries yesterday--agggh!)

 

[TheRainMan]

Mornin Rainy. How are my beaches this morning? It's frosty here (and we had snow flurries yesterday--agggh!)

morning, Miss Maine.

the dolphins have been gone for a while.

it's sunny, but cold . . . i have to come to grips with the idea that it is time to stop swimming in the ocean for this year, or i'm going to lose a few toes.

 

[Angeline]

morning, Miss Maine.

the dolphins have been gone for a while.

it's sunny, but cold . . . i have to come to grips with the idea that it is time to stop swimming in the ocean for this year, or i'm going to lose a few toes.

Well tell "down the shore" I said hello. I'm planing a trip to that area (well near there) in January. I'm sure it'll seem positively tropical after the holidays up here lol. And I'm taking ee to all the hot spots: great pizza, big city, etc. Think he'll survive Washington Square Park?

Stay out of the water, you. No polar bear club for you!

 

[TheRainMan]

Well tell "down the shore" I said hello. I'm planing a trip to that area (well near there) in January. I'm sure it'll seem positively tropical after the holidays up here lol. And I'm taking ee to all the hot spots: great pizza, big city, etc. Think he'll survive Washington Square Park?

Stay out of the water, you. No polar bear club for you!

i will, say hi and stay out.

he'll love Washington Square. tell him to brush up on his chess game. there's nothing as New York as being taken to the cleaners by a grandmaster dressed like a bum . . . but it's always good to last a few moves.

 

[Angeline]

i will, say hi and stay out.

he'll love Washington Square. tell him to brush up on his chess game. there's nothing as New York as being taken to the cleaners by a grandmaster dressed like a bum . . . but it's always good to last a few moves.

Hello back (he's sitting here next to me swilling coffee).

The chess game will be his experience--I suck at chess. I want to show him Rivington Street, where my daddy grew up.

VD, I apologize for the highjack. It was like a breath of fresh air to talk to my buddy RM. There, a simile--I made my post relevent.

 

[MyNecroticSnail]

like a bird on a wire
like a drunk in a choir
I tried in my own way to be free
L. Cohen

Where it works, probably because it ties an abstract "way to be free" to concrete images, and it is inverted, I'm not even sure it is a simile.

But Lauren has been quite exhaustive on better choices

 

[The_Fool]

I wrote a simile once.....

 

[MyNecroticSnail]

I wrote a simile once.....

is that the same as things?

 

[annaswirls]

life is a highway
I want to ride it
all night long


or


life, like a highway
I want to ride it
all night long

okay I confess, we rock out to the CARS soundtrack (lightning mcqueen kicks ass) and I thought of this thread this morning between cheerios and tying shoelaces (learned helplessness gets Mommy's undivided attention) I know it is wrong but damn it we were late.

life
is
a highway
and I put on my mascara when the traffic stops

 

[Liar]

life, like a highway
I want to ride it
all night long

all life-like night,
I long to ride it,
a highway want

 

[bimbogal]

I wouldn't rule out the similie all together though. it's a question of style, intention and situation. Sometimes, a metaphor can look very out of place.

my thoughts exactly.