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Vast simile

Device
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

An expansive, often epic-scale comparison that draws out extended parallels

Detailed Definition
A vast simile compares the subject to something immense—ocean, sky, cosmos—to convey the scale of emotion or idea; while powerful, it risks cliché unless grounded in fresh, specific detail or unexpected linkage that renews the grandeur of the comparison through precision and originality.
Example
Example in poetry:
Vast simile compares to immense or cosmic scales, as in John Donne’s “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”: “Like gold to airy thinness beat”; In “The Canonization,” Donne writes: “We can die by it, if not live by love”; Another: “Her loneliness stretched like the Sahara— / endless, shifting, without oasis”
Additional Notes
Vast simile compares the subject to something immense (ocean, sky, cosmos) to convey scale of emotion or idea; risks cliché unless grounded in fresh, specific detail or unexpected linkage.
Also Known As
Cosmic comparison Expansive likeness Infinite metaphor Enormous metaphor Massive comparison
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