The ancient Greeks were really slick
At using what's called rhetoric:
A little verbal trick, technique
To help them when they'd write or speak.
Two powerful ones (there are lots more)
Are simile and metaphor.
A simile most often has
Comparison with "like" or "as".
A person runs both fast and well?
You say (or write) "like a gazelle"
Or, talking of her speed or dash,
"She came and went, quick as a flash!"
A metaphor's a different tool
And more effective as a rule.
The borrowed image that lends force
Is not the literal truth, of course.
"He sliced through traffic": in this life
Few drivers wield a big sharp knife.
"The bombs rained down" is quite allowed
Though they're not water from a cloud.
Speech figures make your language rich -
Not knowing which of them is which.
But if you want to know, like me,
Think "similar" and "simile",
While any image you adore
Is probably a metaphor.
