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The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

simile [Lat.,=likeness], in rhetoric, a figure of speech in which an object is explicitly compared to another object. Robert Burns's poem "A Red Red Rose" contains two straightforward similes:

My love is like a red, red rose
  That's newly sprung in June:
My love is like the melody
  That's sweetly played in tune.
The epic, or Homeric, simile is an elaborate, formal, and sustained simile derived from those of Homer.

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simile

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music | 1996 | | © The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music 1996, originally published by Oxford University Press 1996. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

simile, simili (It.). The same. Composer's direction in score to indicate that phrase, etc., is to be perf. in same manner as parallel preceding phrase, thus avoiding copying expression marks at each repetition.

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MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "simile." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 22 Dec. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "simile." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (December 22, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O76-simile.html

MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "simile." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Retrieved December 22, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O76-simile.html

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