© The National Gallery, London |
Similes
This is the Battle of San Romano and this was painted probably in the 1450s, so it’s over 500 years old and it was painted in Florence by a guy called Uccello.
And what I want you to do here - I’m going to tell you about something else that we use as journalists to help put people in your shoes. Basically we compare things: if I were to say to you something’s 36 metres long, it’s difficult to imagine what 36 metres looks like, yes? But if I say to you it’s the length of three double-decker buses, do you feel it’s easier to visualise?
So when you’re writing, try to think of this, rather than using abstract concepts, compare it to something. Do you know what similes and metaphors are? Well, this is where you can use them. If you see me eating over lunch and you see me stuffing a sandwich down and you turn around and say to your friend, ‘he eats like a pig’, there you go. Descriptive. You can imagine how I’m eating now, because I’ve told you I’m eating like a pig. If you turn to your friend and say, ‘he is a pig’, a metaphor, there you go. You’ve described him. So you’ve used similes and metaphors to better describe what you’re trying to get across.
So what I want you to do now, grab your pens and paper, and I want you to do three things, imagining that you’re here in this battle. Put yourself there and the first thing I want you to do is come up with a comparison, for example the horse may be as white as snow, or as dark as the darkest night. This black horse here. But I want you to come up with a comparison, a simile or a metaphor or something. I also want you to pick out one detail, something in there that interests you. And the third thing that I want you to do is imagine something that someone is saying. Just one sentence, one word even, that someone, one of these horsemen, riding possibly to his death, is thinking. |
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