*The first image is also my last on the card for April, shared for Bushboy’s last on the card challenge. These were taken on my phone so they don’t truly justify how eye-popping the paintwork of this mural is. I didn’t share last month’s as it was trash. And the last on the card cannot be trash. I know it’s allowed to be but I won’t share it if it is! Anyway, I won’t say any more as I must remain wordless and don’t wish to upset Wednesday.
NaPoWriMo Review: And now for our daily prompt (optional, as always). A couple of days ago, we played around with hard-boiled similes. Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem that contains at least one of a different kind of simile – an epic simile. Also known as Homeric similes, these are basically extended similes that develop over multiple lines.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, they have mainly been used in epic poems, typically as decorative elements that emphasize the dramatic nature of the subject (see, by way of illustration, this example from Milton’s Paradise Lost). But you could write a complete poem that is just one lengthy, epic simile, relying on the surprising comparison of unlike things to carry the poem across.
And if you’re feeling especially cheeky, you could even write a poem in which the epic simile spends lines heroically and dramatically describing something that turns out to be quite prosaic. Whatever you decide to compare, I hope you have fun extending your simile(s) to epic lengths.
For more information or to take part, please visit www.napowrimo.net
*I will reply to comments soon! Thank you for stopping by 🙂
NaPoWriMo Prompt: Hard-boiled detective novels are known for their use of vivid similes, often with an ironic or sarcastic tone. Novelist Raymond Chandler is particularly adept at these. Here are a few from his novels:
A few locks of dry, white hair clung to his scalp, like wild flowers fighting for life on a bare rock.
Dead men are heavier than broken hearts.
From 30 feet away she looked like a lot of class. From 10 feet away she looked like something made up to be seen from 30 feet away.
She smelled the way the Taj Mahal looks by moonlight.
He looked about as inconspicuous as a tarantula on a slice of angel food.
Today, I’d like to challenge you to channel your inner gumshoe, and write a poem in which you describe something with a hard-boiled simile. Feel free to use just one, or try to go for broke and stuff your poem with similes till it’s . . . as dense as bread baked by a plumber, as round as the eyes of a girl who wants you to think she’s never heard such language, and as easy to miss as a brass band in a cathedral.
For more information or to take part, please visit www.napowrimo.net
Never wear a cycle helmet indoors. It’s not bad luck, it’s just not good etiquette.
Always stretch before you go out. You never know when you have to sprint.
Never divide and conquer. Just as a rule. Not because it doesn’t work, but because it’s mean.
Always ask the shyest person their opinion. Especially if they’re one of your students.
Never whistle in the shower. You will find you can’t anyway. Water curtails whistling. Singing however, is different. If you must sing, because the acoustics dare you to, do it with gusto.
Always rearrange the furniture so your space too may take a deep breath. Even if only for a day.
Never make a joke at an interview. But if you do, make sure it’s good.
Always iron your shirt. Never wear a creased shirt.
Never assume the best man always makes the speech. Always allow the best woman the floor if she wants it. In fact, make that compulsory.
Never be afraid to dance if you really want to dance. Always dance if you want to dance. Listen to the body. The body knows things.
NaPoWriMo Prompt: And now for our prompt (optional, as always). In honor of today’s being the 22nd day of Na/GloPoWriMo 2022, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem that uses repetition. You can repeat a sound, a word, a phrase, or an image, or any combination of things.
For more information or to take part, please visit www.napowrimo.net
Sunra Rainz 