Edgar Poe

Humanities ½

October 31, 2001

His face frozen in a grimace looks down upon the unwary

Rams head horns chain this gruesome image to the archway,

His bondage imposed as a public lesson for all who might tarry

Forever affixed, evermore grinning, his caricature permanently affixed.

The air smolder and convulsed, “…smell of dust like a red paprika in the hot air.” (1)

Cheeks plump like ripe apples bulge on the tips of his half moon smile

Thick primitive brows furrow over mischievous eyes lurking in shadows

No doubt twinkling in anticipation of evil doings this night will abound,

When manmade law may not curtail what the demons and nature allows.

He looked as if it had “…draw[n] his soul from him, as marrow comes from a white bone.”(2)

If I should turn my back on this heartless creature and walk down

The fog enshrouded street, would I feel his hot breath upon my cheek?

Would his stringy curls of wood chips tug at the collar of my cloak?

Would his laugh ring in my ears as I kick my heels in flight for help to seek?

His hot breath seemed upon me “…feeling his flesh melt in the hot liquid air.” (3)

Footnotes:

1. Page 13 “The Veldt”

2. Page 480 “Dark They Were, and Golden Eyed”

3. Page 488  “All Summer in a Day”

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Similes and Metaphors: Ray Bradbury

Simile

1. “…empty as a jungle glade at hot high noon”  page 12
2. “…smell of dust like a red paprika in the hot air.” Page 13
3. “…like the yellow of an exquisite French Tapestry….” Page 15
4. “…like a hot paw.” Page 19
5. “...far down the hall, like a framed picture…” page 23
6. “…cheeks like peppermint candy…” page 24
7. “…eyes like bright blue agate marbles…” page 24
8. “…followed her like a flock of fireflies.” Page 25
9. “…colorful flights of butterflies, like animated bouquets” page 26
10. “…wind sucked them like brown leaves up the flue…” page 26
11. “…like a mechanical cemetery.”  Page 38

Metaphor

1. “…this bake oven with murder in the heat.” Page 22
2. “Children are carpets…” page 28

Simile

1. “…blew as if to flack away their identities.” Page 480
2. “…draw his soul from him, as marrow comes from a white bone.”  Page 480
3. “…lying like children’s delicate bones among the blowing lakes of grass.” Page 480
4. “…’I feel like a salt crystal in a mountain stream.’” Page 480
5. “…to be baled like gingerbread shapes in Martian summers.”  Page 481
6. “…like a golden statue.” Page 486
7. “…bones show like coral.” Page 487
8. “…like crayfish hidden.” Page 487

Metaphor

1. “The children, small seeds, might at any instant be sown to all the Martian climes.” Page 479
2. “A river of wind submerged the house.” Page 480
3. “Wind blew a shower of peach blossoms.” Page 482
4. “…feeling his flesh melt in the hot liquid air.” Page 488
5. “Summer burned the canals dry.” Page 489

Personification

1. “Mountains melted, seas drained, cities tumbled.” Page 481

Similes

“..like so many roses, so many weeds, intermixed…” page 490

“…like blushing in the face, in the body, in the arms and legs and trembling hands.” Page 490

“…like a feverish wheel, all tumbling spokes.” Page 490

“…like a penny.” Page 491

“…like a fire.” Page 491

“…like a warm iron…” page 493

“…like wild animals escaped from their caves…” page 493

“…like leaves before the hurricane…” page 493

“…as if someone had driven them, like so many stakes, into the floor.” Page 493

Metaphors

“She was an old photograph dusted from an album, whitened away…” page 490

“The sun is a flower.” Page 490

“…with the sweet crystal fall of showers and the concussion of storms so heavy they were tidal waves come over the islands.” Page 490

“…endless shaking down of clear bead necklaces upon the roof…” page 490

“…the rain had washed out eh blue from her eyes, and the red from her mouth and the yellow from her hair.” P.  490

“…her voice would be a ghost.” Page 491

“It was a nest of octopuses…” page 493