LessonsPurposes of Simile: Possibility, Condition, Degree, Beautification, Disfigurement and ReversalQuiz

كتشبيه غرة الفرس بالصبح وعكسه
As in likening the white marking on a horse's forehead to dawn, or the reverse.

Ghurrat al-faras refers to a conspicuous light or white marking on a horse's forehead. When the marking is compared with dawn, dawn functions as the familiar source of brightness. When dawn is compared with the marking, attention may shift to the special shape and prominence of a bright patch.

Both arrangements have an intelligible respect of resemblance, but their emphasis and purpose can differ. Reversal may become a full rhetorical reversed simile when the context asserts superior excellence; a mere exchange of grammatical positions does not automatically achieve that effect.

Opening interactive controls...

Switching the two sides and changing the emphasis

Purposes of Simile: Possibility, Condition, Degree, Beautification, Disfigurement and Reversal

كتشبيه غرة الفرس بالصبح وعكسه
As in likening the white marking on a horse's forehead to dawn, or the reverse.

Ghurrat al-faras refers to a conspicuous light or white marking on a horse's forehead. When the marking is compared with dawn, dawn functions as the familiar source of brightness. When dawn is compared with the marking, attention may shift to the special shape and prominence of a bright patch.

Both arrangements have an intelligible respect of resemblance, but their emphasis and purpose can differ. Reversal may become a full rhetorical reversed simile when the context asserts superior excellence; a mere exchange of grammatical positions does not automatically achieve that effect.