Simile, Metaphor, Analogy: Associative Imagination

A strategy comedians, poets, and writers use to spice up their words are creating similes, metaphors, and analogies. Each literary device basically compares a concrete idea to an abstract idea. 

The difference between them are simple:

Similes use like or as to compare an idea to another.

Metaphors are a direct statement of a comparison (usually using "is").

An analogy makes a comparison by taking something less known and using something more known to explain the connection/similarity. 

Try this exercise to practice making connections between concepts:

Column A - concrete idea		Column B - abstract idea
Bank	Money	Happiness	Defeat
Cow	Book	Learning	Success
City	Beach	Calm	Trust
Storm	Street	Fury	Life
Sun	Feet	Soft	Itch
Nose	Cat	Love	Fear
Exercise	Crowds	Starving	Naive

Find a connection between two words from the bank and give an example of comparing/contrasting through a simile, metaphor, and analogy. Use at least 6 pairs of words.

Ex. 1. Trust / Bank

Simile: Her trust in others is like a successful bank.

Metaphor: His trust in her was a bank that had been depleted, and he demanded to be paid back somehow.

Analogy: A bank does not loan money out freely; it checks a person or entity’s past to see if they meet certain conditions that deem them trustworthy. Similarly, some people look at a person’s past actions to decide if they can trust them.

Post some of your examples in the comments!




An inspiring simile by Jeanette Rankin, the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress:

"Men and women are like left and right hands, it makes no sense to not use them both."