A near, familiar simile reveals its likeness almost immediately. A remote, uncommon simile calls for a less expected conceptual transition.
Near: “Cheeks are red like roses.” The colour connection is direct.
Remote: comparing a shifting light with a mirror held by a trembling hand; motion and reflection must be imagined together.
Neither class is intrinsically superior. A simple image can be exceptionally apt; an ingenious but strained remote one can fail rhetorically.
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Purposes, Classifications, and Rhetorical Degrees of Simile
A near, familiar simile reveals its likeness almost immediately. A remote, uncommon simile calls for a less expected conceptual transition.
Near: “Cheeks are red like roses.” The colour connection is direct.
Remote: comparing a shifting light with a mirror held by a trembling hand; motion and reflection must be imagined together.
Neither class is intrinsically superior. A simple image can be exceptionally apt; an ingenious but strained remote one can fail rhetorically.