What chiefly distinguishes openly saying “like opposite steps” from borrowing the step scene?

Compound Figurative Language, Representative Metaphor, and Proverbs

• In the first the particle is omitted; in the second the resemblance is explicit
• The first compares explicitly; the second may borrow the whole scene
• In the first the target is suppressed; in the second both sides are stated
• The first is metonymy; the second indirect allusion