Poems with Similes Similes compare two things using “like” or “as”.

Summer is as hot as a cauldronwith boiling water.

-Amy Johnson

Hurricanes are asDestructive and angryAs a mother tigerWhen it’s lost its baby.

-Michael Mariani

Spring Snow

SnowflakesSlip from the skyLike soft white butterflies,Brush the trees with their flimsy wings,Vanish.

-John Foster

Safety Pin

Closed, it sleepsOn its sideQuietly,The silverImageOf someSmall fish;

Opened, it snapsIts tail outLike a thinShrimp, and looksAt the sharpPoint with aSurprised eye.

-Valerie Worth

My Noisy Brother

My brother’s such a noisy kid,when he eats soup he slurps.When he drinks milk he gargles.And after meals he burps.

He cracks his knuckles when he’s bored.He whistles when he walks.He snaps his fingers when he sings,and when he’s mad he squawks.

At night my brother snores so loudit sounds just like a riot.Even when he sleepsmy noisy brother isn’t quiet.

-Bruce Lansky

Poems with Metaphors Metaphors compare two things without using “like” or “as”.

School is a stationwhere little children goto become little engineersto guide the world.

-Ashley Shields

School is a mind factory with brain teasers.

-Stephanie Jones

Winter Morning

Winter is the king of showmen,Turning tree stumps into snow menAnd houses into birthday cakesAnd spreading sugar over lakes.Smooth and clean and frosty white,The world looks good enough to bite.That’s the season to be young,Catching snowflakes on your tongue.Snow is snowy when it’s snowing,I’m sorry it’s slushy when it’s going.

-Ogden NashBlack Is a Shadow

Black is a shadow,Black is the darknessThat you can’t handle.

Black is a dog.Black is a darknessInside a log.

Black is the nightBecause there’s no light.Black is a scary thing.

-Alex Slaught

Simile and Metaphor PracticeDirections: Read the poem. Circle the similes and metaphors. Then, underline the two words it’s comparing.

Gussie’s Greasy Spoon Every day, at ten past noon,I enter GUSSIE’S GREASY SPOON,I plop down in the nearest seat,and order food unfit to eat.I try the juice, it’s warm and vile,the scrambled eggs are green as bile,the beets are blue, the beans are gray,the cauliflower tastes like clay.

At GUSSIE’S GREASY SPOON, the stewis part cement, part hay, part glue,it’s mostly gristle, ropy tough,a tiger couldn’t chew the stuff.The rancid soup is foul and thin,a bit like bitter medicine,the melon smells, the salad sags,the mashed potatoes seem like rags.

One whiff of Gussie’s weird cuisinemakes stomachs ache, turns faces green,her moldy muffins have no peers,they’ll make you sick for forty years.The coffee’s cold, the cake is stale,the doughnuts taste like pickled whale,yet, every day, at ten past noon,I eat at GUSSIE’S GREASY SPOON.

- Jack Prelutsky

Simile and Metaphor PracticeDirections: Decide whether each sentence contains a simile or a metaphor. Write the word SIMILE if the sentence contains a simile. Write the word METAPHOR if the sentence contains a metaphor. Then circle the two things it is comparing.

1. The baby was like an octopus, grabbing at all the cans on the grocery store shelves.

2. As the teacher entered the room, she muttered under her breath, “This class is like a three-ring circus!”

3. The giant’s steps were thunder as he ran toward Jack.

4. The pillow was a cloud when I put my head upon it after a long day.

5. I feel like a limp dishrag.

6. Those girls are like two peas in a pod.

7. The florescent light was the sun during our test.

8. No one invites Harold to parties because he’s a wet blanket.

9. The bar of soap was a slippery eel during the dog’s bath.

10. Ted was as nervous as a cat with a long tail in a room full of rocking chairs.