Our Sunday Simile: Age is like art — it’s a matter of interpretation

 Age  is  a chockablock  full  category  in  Similes Dictionary.   And new age-related similes crop up constantly.  To  wit,   Representative Nancy Pelosi  on  a  discussion  of  Hilary Clinton's  age as an issue  in the 2016 presidential election. As Pelosi  said  "A Republican approach that calls attention to Mrs. Clinton’s age is not without peril,'  She topped her prediction   that the Repulbicans would go to that place at their own ris  with this  simile:    “Age is like art — it’s a matter of interpretation.”
 (From NYTimes   June 29, 2013  article, Republicans Paint Clinton as Old News By Jonathan Martin)

Guess who said acting is like a parachute

 Similes about  the risky  business of acting abound.  Here's  one we missed  adding to the second edition of  Simile Dictionary.  It's attributed to  the late, great Bette Davis:

Acting is like a parachute. You jump and pull the cord and pray that it opens." Bette Davis

Similes make good ads

 A catchy  simile  seen in a subway ad  by  a storage company:


Raising a baby in a NYC apartment is like growiing an oak tree in a thimble

The Simile-Metaphor maven on Somewhere Fun by Jenny Schawrtz

While  I obviously  tend  to  like  playwrights who are passionate about  words,  Jenny Schwartz   tends to  use her  gift  for  imbuing  her plays  with  interesting wordsmithing   to  take audiences
on an absurdist  ride  that   is more confusing than compelling in the long run.  Like the rainstorm that sets the scene for  happenstance meeting of  two old  friends, Rosemary and Evelyn in     her new  play   Somewhere Fun    (www.curtainup.com/somewherefun.html),  words just  pour  out  of  her characters

Rosemary in  particular    has  us  drowning  in words. . .words. . .words.   Before   Schwartz  finally  does her in   by  melting her into a puddle  (I'm not making this up!),  she  tells us  about  her estrangement from her son  with  a quartet of similes,
and hangs  a  simile onto  an old  cliche   pertaining to her  her relationship with Evelyn

About her"relationship with  her son she says  " I’m toxic, “Like a cancer.  Like a curse.  Like a dump.  Like a swamp.” 

She  says  she and  Evelyn  were once  "peas in a pod.  Like two front teeth, we're attached at the hip.

the simile-metaphor maven discovers Elizabeth Strout

Here's one  for   the    I wish I'd  read this book   while  working  on  the  new edition of  Simile Dictionary:    Olive Kitteridge , Elizabeth Strout's Pulitzer Prize winning novel.

Strout's   linked  stories  shape  up  as   a  terrific  novel,    something   of  modern  day  Winesburg  Ohio  in  which  the title  character  just plays   a minor   role in
the story being told. Though  Olive Kitteridge does  ultimately emerge  as  a powerful   and memorable figure.


The author   is  a  fine observer of   life in small town America,   with a take no prisoners approcah to the human condition.    This is   not  a   fluffy  beach read,   especially for anyone of a
certain age. 

Here are  some  of   Strout's  similes   I would  have included in Simile Dictionary if  I'd  read the book before now.

A cliche freshened with a new simile:    A  girl neat as a pin, if plain as a plate . 

The awkward,  nervous appearnace of  a   young couple getting married has them looking stiff as driftwood.   Also  in the  APPEARANCe  category,   Strout  describes somene's legs as  skinny as spider legs.   

The fresh air  and beauty of nature plays   a big role  in the Maine setting.   And so the effect  of  fresh air  on  one  character is like a cold washcloth on his face


 The  effects of a bad experience with another  family leaves its  mark:  The visit to the Larkin home sat inside her like a dark, messy injection of sludge spreading throughout her body.  Only telling someone about it would get it hosed out.

There's also a  striking  metaphor to  depict  the changes people  go through over the years:   The natural rubber ban around people's lives that curiosity stretched for a while had long ago returned to encompass their own particularities

The  author's new book, The Burgess Boys is  on my list  of  this summer's  reading list.

The simile-Metaphor Maven on CSC's Caucasian Chalk Circle

The reason Bertolt Brecht's  plays continue  to  be mounted is   that  his themes are, sad to say, timely as ever;  also  because  Brechtian  playwriting  elements  of music and audience interaction
are naturals for  fresh new  stagings. Case in point: the Classic Stage Company's  current  production of   The Caucasian Chalk Circle  which marries  new songs by the very much alive composer Duncan Sheik  with lyrics  by  the  late  poet  W. H. Auden.


My review    is posted at  Curtainup after the ocicial  May 30th  opening. www.curtainup.com/causasianchalkcirclecsc.html


Here's  one  of  those lyrics  which  includes  two metaphors  (in red) and concludes with a simile (in green).

Beware of willing Judges
For truth is a black cat
In a windowless room at midnight

And justice a blind bat.
To feed the starving people
He broke the laws like bread

A catchy S mile spotted in the subway:. . .

 
The  simile may be a literary device  but  it  also as its  commercial  uses.  To wit,  this  poster  I just  saw in the subway  on my way to the theate advertising  a   New York Storage company:

Raising a baby in a NYC apartment is like growiing an oak tree in a thimble