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FIFTEEN THOUSAND USEFUL PHRASES BY GRENVILLE KLEISER- SECTION VIII STRIKING SIMILES (I to Y)

 I


I had grown pure as the dawn and the dew


I have heard the Hiddon People like the hum of swarming bees


I have seen the ravens flying, like banners of old wars


I saw a face bloom like a flower


I saw a river of men marching like a tide


I saw his senses swim dizzy as clouds


I wander'd lonely as a cloud


I was as sensitive as a barometer


I was no more than a straw on the torrent of his will


I will face thy wrath though it bite as a sword


Ideas which spread with the speed of light


Idle hopes, like empty shadows


Impassive as a statue


Impatient as the wind


Impregnable as Gibraltar


Impressive as a warrant of arrest for high treason


Incredible little white teeth, like snow shut in a rose


Infrequent carriages sped like mechanical toys guided by manikins


In honor spotless as unfallen snow


In that head of his a flame burnt that was like an altar-fire


In yonder cottage shines a light, far-gleaming like a gem


Instantly she revived like flowers in water


Intangible as a dream


It came and faded like a wreath of mist at eve


It cuts like knives, this air so chill


It drops away like water from a smooth statue


It pealed through her brain like a muffled bell


It poured upon her like a trembling flood


It racked his ears like an explosion of steam-whistles


It ran as clear as a trout-brook


It seems as motionless and still as the zenith in the skies


It set his memories humming like a hive of bees


It staggered the eye, like the sight of water running up hill


It stung like a frozen lash


It was as futile as to oppose an earthquake with argument


It was as if a door had been opened into a furnace, so the eyes blazed


It would collapse as if by enchantment


Its temples and its palaces did seem

like fabrics of enchantment piled to Heaven



J


Jealousy, fierce as the fires



K


Kindle like an angel's wings the western skies in flame


Kindly mornings when autumn and winter

seemed to go hand in hand like a happy aged couple


Kingdoms melt away like snow



L


Laboring like a giant


Languid streams that cross softly, slowly,

with a sound like smothered weeping


Laughter like a beautiful bubble from the rosebud of baby-hood


Laughter like the sudden outburst of the glad bird in the tree-top


Lazy merchantmen that crawled like flies over the blue enamel of the sea


Leapt like a hunted stag


Let his frolic fancy play, like a happy child


Let in confusion like a whirling flood


Let thy mouth murmur like the doves


Life had been arrested, as the horologist,

with interjected finger, arrests the beating of the clock

                                   [horologist = one who repairs watches]


Life stretched before him alluring and various as the open road


Life sweet as perfume and pure as prayer


Light as a snowflake


Lights gleamed there like stars in a still sky


Like a ball of ice it glittered in a frozen sea of sky


Like a blade sent home to its scabbard


Like a blast from a horn


Like a blast from the suddenly opened door of a furnace


Like a blossom blown before a breeze,

a white moon drifts before a shimmering sky


Like a bright window in a distant view


Like a caged lion shaking the bars of his prison


Like a calm flock of silver-fleeced sheep


Like a cloud of fire


Like a cold wind his words went through their flesh


Like a crowd of frightened porpoises a shoal of sharks pursue


Like a damp-handed auctioneer


Like a deaf and dumb man wondering what it was all about


Like a dew-drop, ill-fitted to sustain unkindly shocks


Like a dipping swallow the stout ship dashed through the storm


Like a distant star glimmering steadily in the darkness


Like a dream she vanished


Like a festooned girdle encircling the waist of a bride


Like a flower her red lips parted


Like a game in which the important part is to keep from laughing


Like a glow-worm golden


Like a golden-shielded army


Like a great express train, roaring, flashing, dashing head-long


Like a great fragment of the dawn it lay


Like a great ring of pure and endless light


Like a great tune to which the planets roll


Like a high and radiant ocean


Like a high-born maiden


Like a jewel every cottage casement showed


Like a joyless eye that finds no object worth its constancy


Like a knight worn out by conflict


Like a knot of daisies lay the hamlets on the hill


Like a lily in bloom


Like a living meteor


Like a locomotive-engine with unsound lungs


Like a long arrow through the dark the train is darting


Like a mirage, vague, dimly seen at first


Like a miser who spoils his coat with scanting a little cloth

                                                       [scanting = short]


Like a mist the music drifted from the silvery strings


Like a moral lighthouse in the midst of a dark and troubled sea


Like a murmur of the wind came a gentle sound of stillness


Like a noisy argument in a drawing-room


Like a pageant of the Golden Year, in rich memorial pomp the hours go by


Like a pale flower by some sad maiden cherished


Like a poet hidden


Like a river of molten amethyst


Like a rocket discharging a shower of golden stars


Like a rose embower'd in its own green leaves


Like a sea of upturned faces


Like a shadow never to be overtaken


Like a shadow on a fair sunlit landscape


Like a sheeted ghost


Like a ship tossed to and fro on the waves of life's sea


Like a slim bronze statue of Despair


Like a snow-flake lost in the ocean


Like a soul that wavers in the Valley of the Shadow


Like a stalled horse that breaks loose

and goes at a gallop through the plain


Like a star, his love's pure face looked down


Like a star that dwelt apart


Like a star, unhasting, unresting


Like a stone thrown at random


Like a summer cloud, youth indeed has crept away


Like a summer-dried fountain


Like a swift eagle in the morning glare

breasting the whirlwind with impetuous flight


Like a thing at rest


Like a thing read in a book or remembered out of the faraway past


Like a tide of triumph through their veins,

the red, rejoicing blood began to race


Like a triumphing fire the news was borne


Like a troop of boys let loose from school, the adventurers went by


Like a vaporous amethyst


Like a vision of the morning air


Like a voice from the unknown regions


Like a wandering star I fell through the deeps of desire


Like a watch-worn and weary sentinel


Like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed


Like a whirlwind they went past


Like a withered leaf the moon is blown across the bay


Like a world of sunshine


Like a yellow silken scarf the thick fog hangs


Like an alien ghost I stole away


Like an eagle clutching his prey, his arm swooped down


Like an eagle dallying with the wind


Like an engine of dread war, he set his shoulder to the mountain-side


Like an enraged tiger


Like an enthusiast leading about with him an indifferent tourist


Like an icy wave, a swift and tragic impression swept through him


Like an unbidden guest


Like an unbodied joy whose race is just begun


Like an unseen star of birth


Like an unwelcome thought


Like apparitions seen and gone


Like attempting to number the waves on the snore of a limitless sea


Like bells that waste the moments with their loudness


Like blasts of trumpets blown in wars


Like bright Apollo


Like bright lamps, the fabled apples glow


Like building castles in the air


Like bursting waves from the ocean


Like cliffs which have been rent asunder


Like clouds of gnats with perfect lineaments

                                         [lineaments = distinctive shape]


Like cobwebs woven round the limbs of an infant giant


Like crystals of snow


Like dead lovers who died true


Like Death, who rides upon a thought,

and makes his way through temple, tower, and palace


Like dew upon a sleeping flower


Like dining with a ghost


Like drawing nectar in a sieve


Like earth's decaying leaves


Like echoes from a hidden lyre


Like echoes from an antenatal dream


Like fixed eyes, whence the dear light of sense and thought has fled


Like footsteps upon wool


Like fragrance from dead flowers


Like ghosts, from an enchanter fleeing


Like ghosts the sentries come and go


Like golden boats on a sunny sea


Like great black birds, the demons haunt the woods


Like green waves on the sea


Like having to taste a hundred exquisite dishes in a single meal


Like Heaven's free breath, which he who grasps can hold not


Like helpless birds in the warm nest


Like iridescent bubbles floating on a foul stream


Like kindred drops mingled into one


Like laying a burden on the back of a moth


Like lead his feet were


Like leaves in wintry weather


Like leviathans afloat


Like lighting a candle to the sun


Like making a mountain out of a mole-hill


Like mariners pulling the life-boat


Like mice that steal in and out as if they feared the light


Like mountain over mountain huddled


Like mountain streams we meet and part


Like music on the water


Like notes which die when born, but still haunt the echoes of the hill


Like oceans of liquid silver


Like one pale star against the dusk,

a single diamond on her brow gleamed with imprisoned fire


Like one who halts with tired wings


Like one who talks of what he loves in dream


Like organ music came the deep reply


Like pageantry of mist on an autumnal stream


Like phantoms gathered by the sick imagination


Like planets in the sky


Like pouring oil on troubled waters


Like roses that in deserts bloom and die


Like rowing upstream against a strong downward current


Like scents from a twilight garden


Like separated souls


Like serpents struggling in a vulture's grasp


Like sheep from out the fold of the sky, stars leapt


Like ships that have gone down at sea


Like shy elves hiding from the traveler's eye


Like skeletons, the sycamores uplift their wasted hands


Like some grave night thought threading a dream


Like some new-gathered snowy hyacinth,

so white and cold and delicate it was


Like some poor nigh-related guest, that may not rudely be dismist


Like some suppressed and hideous thought which flits athwart our musings,

but can find no rest within a pure and gentle mind


Like some unshriven churchyard thing, the friar crawled


Like something fashioned in a dream


Like sounds of wind and flood


Like splendor-winged moths about a taper


Like stepping out on summer evenings from the glaring ball-room


upon the cool and still piazza


Like straws in a gust of wind


Like summer's beam and summer's stream


Like sunlight, in and out the leaves, the robins went


Like sweet thoughts in a dream


Like the awful shadow of some unseen power


Like the bellowing of bulls


Like the boar encircled by hunters and hounds


Like the bubbles on a river sparkling, bursting, borne away


Like the cold breath of the grave


Like the creaking of doors held stealthily ajar


Like the cry of an itinerant vendor in a quiet and picturesque town


Like the dance of some gay sunbeam


Like the dawn of the morn


Like the detestable and spidery araucaria

           [araucaria = evergreen trees of South America and Australia]


Like the dew on the mountain


Like the dim scent in violets


Like the drifting foam of a restless sea

when the waves show their teeth in the flying breeze


Like the embodiment of a perfect rose, complete in form and fragrance


Like the faint cry of unassisted woe


Like the faint exquisite music of a dream


Like the fair flower dishevel'd in the wind


Like the fair sun, when in his fresh array he cheers the morn,

and all the earth revealeth


Like the falling thud of the blade of a murderous ax


Like the fierce fiend of a distempered dream


Like the fitting of an old glove to a hand


Like the foam on the river


Like the great thunder sounding


Like the jangling of all the strings of some musical instrument


Like the jewels that gleam in baby eyes


Like the kiss of maiden love the breeze is sweet and bland


Like the long wandering love, the weary heart may faint for rest


Like the moon in water seen by night


Like the music in the patter of small feet


Like the prodigal whom wealth softens into imbecility


Like the quivering image of a landscape in a flowing stream


Like the rainbow, thou didst fade


Like the rustling of grain moved by the west-wind


Like the sap that turns to nectar, in the velvet of the peach


Like the sea whose waves are set in motion by the winds


Like the sea-worm, that perforates the shell of the mussel,

which straightway closes the wound with a pearl


Like the setting of a tropical sun


Like the shadow of a great hill that reaches far out over the plain


Like the shadows of the stars in the upheaved sea


Like the shudder of a doomed soul


Like the silver gleam when the poplar trees

rustle their pale leaves listlessly


Like the soft light of an autumnal day


Like the Spring-time, fresh and green


Like the stern-lights of a ship at sea,

illuminating only the path which has been passed over


Like the sudden impulse of a madman


Like the swell of Summer's ocean


Like the tattered effigy in a cornfield


Like the vase in which roses have once been distill'd


Like the visits of angels, short and far between


Like the whole sky when to the east the morning doth return


Like thistles of the wilderness, fit neither for food nor fuel


Like those great rivers, whose course everyone beholds,

but their springs have been seen by but few


Like thoughts whose very sweetness

yielded proof that they were born for immortality


Like to diamonds her white teeth shone between the parted lips


Like torrents from a mountain source, we rushed into each other's arms


Like troops of ghosts on the dry wind past


Like two doves with silvery wings, let our souls fly


Like two flaming stars were his eyes


Like vaporous shapes half seen


Like village curs that bark when their fellows do


Like wasted hours of youth


Like winds that bear sweet music,

when they breathe through some dim latticed chamber


Like wine-stain to a flask the old distrust still clings


Like winged stars the fire-flies flash and glance


Like young lovers whom youth and love make dear


Lingering like an unloved guest


Lithe as a panther


Little white hands like pearls


Lofty as a queen


Loneliness struck him like a blow


Looked back with faithful eyes like a great mastiff to his master's face


Looking as sulky as the weather itself


Looking like a snarling beast baulked of its prey

                                           [baulked = checked, thwarted]


Loose clouds like earth's decaying leaves are shed


Lost like the lightning in the sullen clod


Love as clean as starlight


Love brilliant as the morning


Love had like the canker-worm consumed her early prime


Love is a changing lord as the light on a turning sword


Love like a child around the world doth run


Love like a miser in the dark his joys would hide


Love shakes like a windy reed your heart


Love smiled like an unclouded sun


Love that sings and has wings as a bird


Lovely as starry water


Lovely the land unknown and like a river flowing



M


March on my soul nor like the laggard stay


Me on whose heart as a worm she trod


Meaningless as the syllables of an unknown tongue


Men moved hither and thither like insects in their crevices


Mentality as hard as bronze


Mentally round-shouldered and decrepit


Merge imperceptibly into one another like the hues of the prism


Meteors that dart like screaming birds


Milk-white pavements, clear and richly pale, like alabaster


More variegated than the skin of a serpent


Motion like the spirit of that wind whose soft step deepens slumber


Motionless as a plumb line


Mountains like frozen wrinkles on a sea


Moving in the same dull round, like blind horses in a mill


Mute as an iceberg


My age is as a lusty Winter


My body broken as a turning wheel


My breath to Heaven like vapor goes


My head was like a great bronze bell with one thought for the clapper


My heart is as some famine-murdered land


My heart is like a full sponge and must weep a little


My heart like a bird doth hover


My heart will be as wind fainting in hot grass


My life floweth away like a river


My life was white as driven snow


My love for thee is like the sovereign moon that rules the sea


My love's like the steadfast sun


My lungs began to crow like chanticleer        [chanticleer = rooster]


My mind swayed idly like a water-lily in a lake


My muscles are as steel


My skin is as sallow as gold


My soul was as a lampless sea


My spirit seemed to beat the void, like the bird from out the ark


My thoughts came yapping and growling round me like a pack of curs


My thoughts ran leaping through the green ways of my mind

like fawns at play



N


Night falls like fire


No longer shall slander's venomed spite crawl

like a snake across his perfect name


Now every nerve in my body seemed like a strained harp-string

ready to snap at a touch


Now like a wild nymph she veils her shadowy form


Now like a wild rose in the fields of heaven

slipt forth the slender figure of the Dawn


Now memory and emotion surged in my soul like a tempest


Now thou seemest like a bankrupt beau, stripped of his gaudy hues



O


Obscured with wrath as is the sun with cloud


Odorous as all Arabia


Often enough life tosses like a fretful stream among rocky boulders


Oh, lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud


Old as the evening star


Old happy hours that have long folded their wings


Once again, like madness, the black shapes of doubt swing through his brain


One bleared star, faint glimmering like a bee


One bright drop is like the gem that decks a monarch's crown


One by one flitting like a mournful bird


One deep roar as of a cloven world


One winged cloud above like a spread dragon overhangs the west


Oppressed by the indefiniteness which hung in her mind,

like a thick summer haze


Or shedding radiance like the smiles of God


Our enemies were broken like a dam of river reeds


Our hearts bowed down like violets after rain


Our sail like a dew-lit blossom shone


Overhead the intense blue of the noonday sky burst like a jewel in the sun



P


Pale and grave as a sculptured nun


Pale as a drifting blossom


Passed like a phantom into the shadows


Passive and tractable as a child


Peaceful as a village cricket-green on Sunday


Peevish and impatient, like some ill-trained man who is sick


Perished utterly, like a blown-out flame


Philosophy evolved itself, like a vast spider's loom


Pillowed upon its alabaster arms

like to a child o'erwearied with sweet toil


Polished as the bosom of a star


Poured his heart out like the rending sea in passionate wave on wave


Pouting like the snowy buds o' roses in July


Presently she hovered like a fluttering leaf or flake of snow


Pride and self-disgust served her

like first-aid surgeons on the battlefield


Proud as the proudest of church dignitaries


Pure as a wild-flower


Pure as the azure above them


Pure as the naked heavens


Pure as the snowy leaves that fold over the flower's heart


Purple, crimson, and scarlet, like the curtains of God's tabernacle


Put on gravity like a robe



Q


Quaking and quivering like a short-haired puppy after a ducking


Questions and answers sounding like a continuous popping of corks


Quiet as a nun's face


Quietly as a cloud he stole


Quietude which seemed to him beautiful as clear depths of water


Quivering like an eager race-horse to start



R


Rage, rage ye tears, that never more should creep

like hounds about God's footstool


Ran like a young fawn


Rattle in the ear like a flourish of trumpets


Rays springing from the east like golden arrows


Red as the print of a kiss might be


Redolent with the homely scent of old-fashioned herbs and flowers


Reflected each in the other like stars in a lake


Refreshed like dusty grass after a shower


Refreshing as descending rains to sunburnt climes


Remote as the hidden star


Restless as a blue-bottle fly on a warm summer's day


Revealed his doings like those of bees in a glass hive


Rich as the dawn


Ride like the wind through the night


Rivers that like silver threads

ran through the green and gold of pasture lands


Roared like mountain torrents


Rolling it under the tongue as a sweet morsel


Round my chair the children run like little things of dancing gold


Ruddy as sunrise


Ruddy his face as the morning light


Ruffling out his cravat with a crackle of starch,

like a turkey when it spreads its feathers


Running to and fro like frightened sheep


Rushing and hurrying about like a June-bug



S


Sanctuaries where the passions may, like wild falcons,

cover their faces with their wings


Sayings that stir the blood like the sound of a trumpet


Scattered love as stars do light


Sea-gulls flying like flakes of the sea


Sentences level and straight like a hurled lance


Shadowy faces, known in dreams, pass as petals upon a stream


Shake like an aspen leaf


Shaken off like a nightmare


Shapeless as a sack of wool


Shattered like so much glass


She brightened like a child whose broken toy is glued together


She could summon tears as one summons servants


She danced like a flower in the wind


She disclaimed the weariness that

dragged upon her spirits like leaden weights


She exuded a faint and intoxicating perfume of womanliness,

like a crushed herb


She felt like an unrepentant criminal


She fled like a spirit from the room


She flounders like a huge conger-eel in an ocean of dingy morality


She gave him a surprised look,

like a child catching an older person in a foolish statement


She gave off antipathies as a liquid gives off vapor


She has great eyes like the doe


She heard him like one in a dream


She let the soft waves of her deep hair fall like flowers from Paradise


She looked like a tall golden candle


She looked like the picture of a young rapt saint, lost in heavenly musing


She moved like mirth incarnate


She nestles like a dove


She played with a hundred possibilities

fitfully and discursively as a musician runs his fingers over a key-board


She played with grave cabinets as a cat plays with a mouse


She saw this planet like a star hung in the glistening depths of even


She seemed as happy as a wave that dances on the sea


She shall be sportive as the fawn


She stood silent a moment, dropping before him like a broken branch


She that passed had lips like pinks


She walked like a galley-slave


She walks in beauty like the night


She was as brilliant, and as hard too, as electric light


She was silent, standing before him like a little statuesque figure


Shining like the dewy star of dawn


Shivering pine-trees, like phantoms


Showy as damask-rose and shy as musk


Shrill as the loon's call


Shrivel like paper thrust into a flame


Shy as the squirrel


Sights seen as a traveling swallow might see them on the wing


Silence deep as death


Silence now is brooding

like a gentle spirit o'er the still and pulseless world


Silence that seemed heavy and dark; like a passing cloud


Sinks clamorous like mill-waters at wild play


Sits like the maniac on his fancied throne


Skies as clear as babies' eyes


Sleek and thick and yellow as gold


Slender and thin as a slender wire


Slowly as a tortoise


Slowly as the finger of a clock, her shadow came


Slowly moved off and disappeared

like shapes breathed on a mirror and melting away


Slowly, unnoted, like the creeping rust

that spreads insidious, had estrangement come


Small as a grain of mustard seed


Smooth as a pond


Smooth as the pillar flashing in the sun


Snug as a bug in a rug


Soaring as swift as smoke from a volcano springs


So elusive that the memory of it afterwards

was wont to come and go like a flash of light


So my spirit beat itself like a caged bird against its prison bars in vain


Soft as a zephyr


Soft as sleep the snow fell


Soft as Spring


Soft as the down of the turtle dove


Soft as the landscape of a dream


Soft as the south-wind


Soft in their color as gray pearls


Soft vibrations of verbal melody, like the sound of a golden bell

rung far down under the humming waters


Some gleams of feeling pure and warm as sunshine on a sky of storm


Some like veiled ghosts hurrying past

as though driven to their land of shadows by shuddering fear


Some minds are like an open fire--how direct and instant

our communication with them


Something divine seemed to cling around her like some subtle vapor


Something resistant and inert, like the obstinate rolling over

of a heavy sleeper after he has been called to get up


Something sharp and brilliant, like the glitter of a sword

or a forked flash of lightning


Sorrowful eyes like those of wearied kine spent from the plowing

                                                            [kine = cows]


Spread like wildfire


Squirrel-in-the-cage kind of movement


Stamping like a plowman to shuffle off the snow


Stared about like calves in a pen


Steadfast as the soul of truth


Steals lingering like a river smooth


Still as death


Stood like a wave-beaten rock


Straight as a ray of light


Straight as an arrow


Streamed like a meteor through the troubled air


Streamed o'er his memory like a forest flame


Streaming tears, like pearl drops from a flint


Striking with the force of an engine of destruction


Strong as a bison


Style comes, if at all, like the bloom upon fruit,

or the glow of health upon the cheek


Subtle as jealousy


Sudden a thought came like a full-blown rose, flushing his brow


Sudden sprays of rain, like volleys of sharp arrows,

rattled gustily against the windows


Suddenly, like death, the truth flashed on them


Sunbeams flashing on the face of things

like sudden smilings of divine delight


Sunday mornings which seem to put on, like a Sabbath garment,

an atmosphere of divine quietude


Supple and sweet as a rose in bloom


Sway like blown moths against the rosewhite flame


Sweet as a summer night without a breath


Sweet as music she spoke


Sweet as the rain at noon


Sweet as the smile of a fairy


Swift as a swallow heading south


Swift as lightning


Swift as the panther in triumph


Swifter than the twinkling of an eye



T


Talking and thinking became to him like the open page of a monthly magazine


Tall lance-like reeds wave sadly o'er his head


That like a wounded snake drags its slow length along


The anemone that weeps at day-break, like a silly girl before her lover


The army blazed and glowed in the golden sunlight

like a mosaic of a hundred thousand jewels


The army like a witch's caldron seethed


The beating of her heart was like a drum


The beauty of her quiet life was like a rose in blowing


The billows burst like cannon down the coast


The birds swam the flood of air like tiny ships


The boat cuts its swift way through little waves like molten gold and opal


The boom of the surf grew ever less sonorous,

like the thunder of a retreating storm


The breast-plate of righteousness


The breathless hours like phantoms stole away


The breeze is as a pleasant tune


The calm white brow as calm as earliest morn


The camp fire reddens like angry skies


The chambers of the house were haunted by an incessant echoing,

like some dripping cavern


The church swarmed like a hive


The city is all in a turmoil; it boils like a pot of lentils


The clouds that move like spirits o'er the welkin clear   [welkin = sky]


The clustered apples burnt like flame


The colored bulbs swung noon-like from tree and shrub


The crimson close of day


The curl'd moon was like a little feather


The curling wreaths like turbans seem


The dark hours are swept away like crumbling ashes


The dark mass of her hair shook round her like a sea


The dawn is rising from the sea, like a white lady from her bed


The dawn had whitened in the mist like a dead face


The dawn with silver-sandaled feet crept like a frightened girl.


The day stunned me like light upon some wizard way


The day was sweeter than honey and the honey-comb


The day have trampled me like armed men


The dead past flew away over the fens like a flight of wild swans


The deep like one black maelstrom round her whirls


The deepening east like a scarlet poppy burnt


The desolate rocky hills rolled like a solid wave along the horizon


The dome of heaven is like one drop of dew


The dreams of poets come like music heard at evening

from the depth of some enchanted forest


The eagerness faded from his eyes,

leaving them cold as a winter sky after sunset


The earth was like a frying-pan, or some such hissing matter


The eternal sea, which like a childless mother,

still must croon her ancient sorrows to the cold white moon


The evening sky was as green as jade


The excitement had spread through the whole house,

like a piquant and agreeable odor


The excitement of the thought

buoyed his high-strung temperament like a tonic


The feathery meadows like a lilac sea


The firm body like a slope of snow


The first whiff of reality dissipated them like smoke


The floor, newly waxed, gleamed in the candle-light like beaten moonbeams


The fragrant clouds of hair, they flowed round him like a snare


The gathering glory of life shone like the dawn


The gesture was all strength and will,

like the stretching of a sea-bird's wings


The girl's voice rang like a bird-call through his rustling fancies


The glimmer of tall flowers standing

like pensive moon-worshipers in an ecstasy of prayerless bloom


The guides sniffed, like chamois, the air

                               [chamois = extremely agile goat antelope]


The heavens are like a scroll unfurled


The hills across the valley were purple as thunder-clouds


The hoofs of the horses rang like the dumb cadence of an old saga


The hours crawled by like years


The hum of the camp sounds like the sea


The hurrying crowds of men gather like clouds


The ideas succeeded each other like a dynasty of kings


The impalpable presence of the new century

rose like a vast empty house through which


no human feet had walked


The inexorable facts closed in on him

like prison-warders hand-cuffing a convict


The lake glimmered as still as a mirror


The land of gold seemed to hold him like a spell


The land was like a dream


The level boughs, like bars of iron across the setting sun


The light of London flaring like a dreary dawn


The lights blazed up like day


The lilies were drooping, white, and wan,

like the head and skin of a dying man


The mellowing hand of time


The melody rose tenderly and lingeringly

like a haunting perfume of pressed flowers


The Milky Way lay like diamond-dust upon the robe of some great king


The monk's face whitened like sea-foam


The moon drowsed between the trees like a great yellow moth


The moon on the tower slept soft as snow


The moonbeams rest like a pale spotless shroud


The moonlight lay like snow


The moonlight, like a fairy mist, upon the mesa spreads


The mortal coldness of the soul, like death itself comes down


The mountain shadows mingling, lay like pools above the earth


The mountains loomed up dimly, like phantoms through the mist


The music almost died away, then it burst like a pent-up flood


The name that cuts into my soul like a knife


The nervous little train winding its way like a jointed reptile


The new ferns were spread upon the earth like some lacy coverlet


The night like a battle-broken host is driven before


The night yawned like a foul wind


The ocean swelled like an undulating mirror of the bowl of heaven


The old books look somewhat pathetically from the shelves,

like aged dogs wondering why no one takes them for a walk


The old infamy will pop into daylight

like a toad out of fissure in the rock


The penalty falls like a thunderbolt from heaven


The phrase was like a spear-thrust


The pine trees waved as waves a woman's hair


The place was like some enchanted town of palaces


The plains to northward change their color

like the shimmering necks of doves


The poppy burned like a crimson ember


The prime of man has waxed like cedars


The public press would chatter and make odd ambiguous sounds

like a shipload of monkeys in a storm


The purple heather rolls like dumb thunder


The rainbows flashed like fire


The river shouted as ever its cry of joy over the vitality of life,

like a spirited boy before the face of inscrutable nature


The roofs with their gables like hoods


The roses lie upon the grass like little shreds of crimson silk


The satire of the word cut like a knife


The scullion with face shining like his pans


The sea reeled round like a wine-vat splashing


The sea-song of the trampling waves is as muffled bells


The sea spread out like a wrinkled marble floor


The sea, that gleamed still, like a myriad-petaled rose


The sea was as untroubled as the turquoise vault which it reflected


The setting of the sun is like a word of peace


The sharp hail rattles against the panes and melts on my cheeks like tears


The ships, like sheeted phantoms coming and going


The silence seemed to crush to earth

like a great looking-glass and shiver into a million pieces


The silvery morning like a tranquil vision fills the world


The sky burned like a heated opal


The sky gleamed with the hardness and brilliancy of blue enamel


The sky was as a shield

that caught the stain of blood and battle from the dying sun


The sky was clear and blue, and the air as soft as milk


The sky was like a peach


The sky where stars like lilies white and fair shine through the mists


The solid air around me there heaved like a roaring ocean


The solid mountains gleamed like the unsteady sea


The soul is like a well of water springing up into everlasting life


The sound is like a noon-day gale


The sound is like a silver-fountain that springeth in a golden basin


The sound of a thousand tears, like softly pattering wings


The sound of your running feet that like the sea-hoofs beat


The spear-tongued lightning slipped like a snake


The Spring breaks like a bird


The stacks of corn in brown array, like tattered wigwams on the plain


The stars come down and trembling glow like blossoms on the waves below


The stars lay on the lapis-lazuli sky

like white flower-petals on still deep water

                            [lapis-lazuli = opaque to translucent blue,

                             violet-blue, or greenish-blue gemstone]


The stars pale and silent as a seer


The strange cold sense of aloofness that had numbed her senses

suddenly gave way like snow melting in the spring


The sudden thought of your face is like a wound when it comes unsought


The sun, like a great dragon, writhes in gold


The sun on the sea-wave lies white as the moon


The surf was like the advancing lines of an unknown enemy

flinging itself upon the shore


The terrible past lay afar, like a dream left behind in the night


The tide was in the salt-weed, and like a knife it tore


The time, gliding like a dream


The torrent from the hills

leaped down their rocky stairways like wild steeds


The tree whose plumed boughs are soft as wings of birds


The uproar and contention pierced him like arrows


The veiled future bowed before me like a vision of promise


The velvet grass that is like padding to earth's meager ribs


The villa dips its foot in the lake, smiling at its reflection

like a bather lingering on the brink


The voice of Fate, crying like some old Bellman through the world


The voice that rang in the night like a bugle call


The warm kindling blood burned her cheeks like the breath of a hot wind


The waves were rolling in, long and lazy, like sea-worn travelers


The whole truth, naked, cold, and fatal as a patriot's blade


The wind all round their ears hissed like a flight of white-winged geese


The wind comes and it draws its length along

like the genii from the earthen pot


The wine flows like blood


The woman seemed like a thing of stone


The words kept ringing in my ears like the tolling of a bell


The words of the wise fall

like the tolling of sweet, grave bells upon the soul


The world had vanished like a phantasmagoria


The world is bitter as a tear


The world is in a simmer, like a sea


The world wavers within its circle like a dream


The years stretched before her like some vast blank page

out to receive the record of her toil


The years vanished like a May snowdrift


The yellow apples glowed like fire


Their glances met like crossed swords


Their joy like sunshine deep and broad falls on my heart


Their minds rested upon the thought,

as chasing butterflies might rest together on a flower


Their music frightful as the serpent's hiss


Their touch affrights me as a serpent's sting


Then fall unheeded like the faded flower


Then felt I like some watcher of the skies


Then it swelled out to rich and glorious harmonies

like a full orchestra playing under the sea


Then the lover sighing like furnace


Theories sprouted in his mind like mushrooms


There is an air about you like the air that folds a star


There, like a bird, it sits and sings


There seemed to brood in the air a quiet benevolence

of a Father watching His myriad children at play


There she soars like a seraph


There she stood straight as a lily on its stem


There slowly rose to sight, a country like a dragon fast asleep


There streamed into the air the sweet smell of crushed grass, as though

many fields had been pressed between giant's fingers and so had been left


These eyes like stars have led me


These final words snapped like a whip-lash


These thoughts pierced me like thorns


They are as cruel as creeping tigers


They are as white foam on the swept sands


They are as white swans in the dusk, thy white hands


They are painted sharp as death


They broke into pieces and fell on the ground,

like a silvery, shimmering shower of hail


They dropped like panthers


They fly like spray


They had hands like claws


They had slipped away like visions


They have as many principles as a fish has bones


They have faces like flowers


They hurried down like plovers that have heard the call

                                                [plovers = wading birds]


They look like rose-buds filled with snow


They seem like swarming flies, the crowd of little men


They seemed like floating flowers


They shine as sweet as simple doves


They stand like solitary mountain forms

on some hard, perfectly transparent day


They vanished like the shapes that float upon a summer's dream


Thick as wind-blown leaves innumerable


Thickly the flakes drive past, each like a childish ghost


Thine eyes like two twin stars shining


This life is like a bubble blown up in the air


This love that dwells like moonlight in your face


This thought is as death


This tower rose in the sunset like a prayer


Those ancestral themes past which so many generations have slept

like sea-going winds over pastures


Those death-like eyes, unconscious of the sun


Those eyelids folded like a white rose-leaf


Those eyes like bridal beacons shine


Thou art to me but as a wave of the wild sea


Thou as heaven art fair and young


Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea


Thou must wither like a rose


Thou shalt be as free as mountain winds


Thou wouldst weep tears bitter as blood


Though bright as silver the meridian beams shine


Though thou be black as night


Thoughts vague as the fitful breeze


Three-cornered notes fly about like butterflies


Through the forest, like a fairy dream through some dark mind,

the ferns in branching beauty stream


Through the moonlit trees, like ghosts of sounds haunting the moonlight,

stole the faint tinkle of a guitar


Through the riot of his senses, like a silver blaze, ran the legend


Thy beauty like a beast it bites


Thy brown benignant eyes have sudden gleams of gladness and surprise,

like woodland brooks that cross a sunlit spot


Thy carven columns must have grown by magic, like a dream in stone


Thy favors are but like the wind that kisses everything it meets


Thy heart is light as a leaf of a tree


Thy name burns like a gray and flickering candle flame


Thy name will be as honey on men's lips


Till death like sleep might steal on me


Till he melted like a cloud in the silent summer heaven


Time drops in decay, like a candle burnt out


Time like a pulse shakes fierce


To drag life on, which

like a heavy chain lengthens behind with many a link of pain


To forsake as the trees drop their leaves in autumn


Toys with smooth trifles like a child at play


Transitory as clouds without substance


Transparent like a shining sun


Tree and shrub altered their values

and became transmuted to silver sentinels


Trees that spread their forked boughs like a stag's antlers


Trembling like an aspen-leaf


Truths which forever shine as fixed stars


Turning easily and securely as on a perfect axle



U


Unbends like a loosened bow


Unbreakable as iron


Unconscious as an oak-tree of its growth


Under the willow-tree glimmered her face

like a foam-flake drifting over the sea


Unheralded, like some tornado

loosed out of the brooding hills, it came to pass


Unknown, like a seed in fallow ground, was the germ of a plan


Unmoving as a tombstone


Untameable as flies


Unutterable things pressing on my soul

like a pent-up storm craving for outlet


Upcast like foam of the effacing tide


Uplifting the soul as on dovelike wings


Uplifting their stony peaks around us

like the walls and turrets of a gigantic fortress


Urgent as the seas


Uttering wild cries like a creature in pain



V


Vague as a dream


Vague thoughts that stream shapelessly through her mind

like long sad vapors through the twilight sky


Vanish into thin air, like ghosts at the cockcrow


Vanished like snow when comes a thaw


Vanished like vapor before the sun


Vibrations set quivering like harp strings struck by the hand of a master


Vociferous praise following like a noisy wave



W


Walking somewhat unsteadily like a blind man feeling his way


Waves glittered and danced on all sides like millions of diamonds


We left her and retraced our steps like faithless hounds


Weak and frail like the vapor of a vale


Wearing their wounds like stars


Weary wind, who wanderest like the world's rejected guest


When a draft might puff them out like a guttering candle

      [guttering = To melt through the side of the hollow in a candle

       formed by a burning wick; to burn low and unsteadily; flicker]


When arm in arm they both came swiftly running,

like a pair of turtle-doves that could not live asunder day or night


When cards, invitations, and three-corn'd notes

fly about like white butterflies


When she died, her breath whistled like the wind in a keyhole


When the fever pierced me like a knife


Where a lamp of deathless beauty shines like a beacon


Where heroes die as leaves fall


Where the intricate wheels of trade are grinding on, like a mill


Where the source of the waters is fine as a thread


Whilst the lagging hours of the day went by

like windless clouds o'er a tender sky


Whistled sharply in the air like a handful of vipers


White as a ghost from darkness


White as chalk


White as dove or lily, or spirit of the light


White as the driven snow


White as the moon's white flame


White as the sea-bird's wing


White clouds like daisies


White hands she moves like swimming swans


White hands through her hair,

like white doves going into the shadow of a wood


White like flame


White sails of sloops like specters


Whose bodies are as strong as alabaster


Whose hair was as gold raiment on a king


Whose laugh moves like a bat through silent haunted woods


Whose little eyes glow like the sparks of fire


Whose music like a robe of living light reclothed each new-born age


Windy speech which hits all around the mark like a drunken carpenter


Winged like an arrow to its mark


With a sting like a scorpion


With all the complacency of a homeless cat


With an angry broken roar, like billows on an unseen shore, their fury burst


With hate darkling as the swift winter hail


With music sweet as love


With sounds like breakers


With strength like steel


With the whisper of leaves in one's ear


With words like honey melting from the comb


Wits as sharp as gimlets     [gimlet = small hand tool for boring holes]


Women with tongues like polar needles


Words as fresh as spring verdure

                      [verdure = lush greenness of flourishing vegetation]


Words as soft as rain


Words like the gossamer film of the summer


Words sweet as honey from his lips distill'd


Words were flashing like brilliant birds through the boughs overhead


Wordsworth, thy music like a river rolls


Worthless like the conjurer's gold


Wrangle over details like a grasping pawnbroker


Wrinkled and scored like a dried apple


Writhing with an intensity that burnt like a steady flame



Y


Yielding like melted snow


Yonder flimsy crescent, bent like an archer's bow above the snowy summit


You are as gloomy to-night as an undertaker out of employment


You are as hard as stone


You gave me such chill embraces

as the snow-covered heights receive from clouds


Your blood is red like wine


Your charms lay like metals in a mine


Your eyes are like fantastic moons that shiver in some stagnant lake


Your eyes as blue as violets


Your eyes they were green and gray like an April day


Your frail fancies are swallowed up,

like chance flowers flung upon the river's current


Your hair was golden as tints of sunrise


Your heart is as dry as a reed


Your locks are like the raven


Your love shall fall about me like sweet rain


Your step's like the rain to summer vexed farmer


Your thoughts are buzzing like a swarm of bees


Your tongue is like a scarlet snake


Your voice had a quaver in it just like the linnet   [linnet = small finch]


Youth like a summer morn




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