The Following Phrases Were Taken from Popular Music Lyrics

The following phrases were taken from popular music lyrics. Identify whether each underlined section of the phrase is a metaphor or a simile by writing the answer in the space provided.

1.  I’m your dream, make you real 1. ______

I’m your eyes when you must steal

I’m your pain when you can’t feel

--Metallica, “Sad But True”

2. Head like a hole, black as your soul 2. ______

--Nine Inch Nails, “Head Like a Hole”

3.  Darkness creeps in like a thief and offers no relief 3. ______

Why are you shaking like a leaf?

Come on, come talk to me.

--Peter Gabriel, “Come Talk to Me”

4.  Hello, don’t you know me? 4. ______

I’m the dirt beneath your feet

--Soundgarden, “Mailman”

5.  When you’re alone and you’re cold inside 5. ______

Like a stranger in Moscow

--Michael Jackson, “Stranger in Moscow”

6. Desperation is a tender trap 6. ______

--U2, “So Cruel”

7. Fought….and have an Air Force medal 7. ______

Ace is running hot as a boiling kettle

--Beastie Boys, “No Sleep ‘til Brooklyn”

8. Don’t treat me like a puppet on a string 8. ______

--Bob Marley, “Waiting in Vain”

9. Satellite in my eyes 9. ______

Like a diamond in the sky

--Dave Matthews Band, “Satellite”

10. It would make a prison of my life 10. ______

if you became another’s wife

--Sting, “Mad About You”

11. The world is a vampire, sent to drain 11. ______

Secret destroyer, holds you up to the flames

--Smashing Pumpkins, “Bullet With Butterfly Wings”

Similes and Metaphors

A metaphor is an imaginative comparison between two unlike things in which one thing is said to be another thing.

Ex. My love is a blinding, burning flame.

The sun, a demon’s eye.

Soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east and Juliet is the sun.

Create your own metaphors by finishing the following phrases.

1.  Their music is ______

2.  The oncoming army was ______

3.  His arms, ______

4.  Love is ______

5.  My pain was ______

A simile is a comparison between two unlike things, using a word such as like, as, than, or resembles.

Ex. His personality, stiff as a two-day corpse.

I was flying like a bird across the sky.

Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re going to get.

Create your own similes by finishing the following phrases.

1.  The moon, glowing like ______

2.  A red flower, brilliant as ______

3.  Her fingers, delicate as ______

4.  The peninsula stretches out from the coast like ______

5.  That skater was careening downhill like ______