Expanding Serendipitous
Similes in Poems

This writing prompt generator was one of the first twenty-one interactive word games presented at the original WritingFix in-service sponsored by the Northern Nevada Writing Project.

Writer Instructions:

A simile occurs when a writer compares one thing to another, then explains the comparison in more depth. 

Here is a sample simile that might be found in a poem.  His face was like a book.

Good similes are expanded by poets...they're not usually just one-liners in poetry.  Below is the book simile, as expanded on in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Act I:

Read o'er the volume of young Paris' face,
And find delight writ there with beauty's pen;
Examine every married lineament,
And see how one another lends content; 
And what obscured in this fair volume lies
Find written in the margin of his eyes. 
This precious book of love, this unbound lover,
To beautify him, only lacks a cover.

Skilled poets use poetic elements--like similes--so well that you almost don't notice them. Today, you'll be creating an expanded simile that hopefully inspires a poem about a real person or a character

Create a simile with the simile generator below.  Click the buttons below until you create a simile that reminds you of someone you know or would like to know. Plan to use the simile in a poem you write.

You can start your poem with the simile you create. Or you can hide your simile inside your writing and challenge a friend to find it.  Don't just drop the simile and run...expand on it (like in the sample below) by showing more details of your comparison.

Here's a hint to make a more successful simile.  Try adding an adjective in front of the Interesting Noun you're given.  For example, if you're dealt "His love is like a swimming pool," change it to "His love is like a crowded swimming pool," or "His love is like a public swimming pool," or "His love is like a well-chlorinated swimming pool" before writing your description.  And have serendipitous fun!