Simile
A simile is an explicit comparison between two unlike things, signalled by "like" or "as". It is among the most frequent figures in Taylor's writing, and the interest usually lies less in the fact of the comparison than in the vehicle she chooses: why holidays should linger like bad perfume, why August sipped away like a bottle of wine, why a former love still clings like a wine-stained dress that can no longer be worn. The comparisons range from the tender, a memory that lingers like a tattoo kiss, to the wry, reading someone like a magazine, and a song can shift deliberately into a run of similes, spreading its wings like a parachute and turning a known devil into something that looks more like an angel. Where the comparison drops "like" or "as" and asserts the two things are one, the figure is metaphor instead.
Because a simile keeps its two things side by side rather than merging them, the writer can reach for a surprising or exact comparison without claiming they're really the same, so you can weigh it on its own terms. The effect rests on how apt the chosen image is: the right one brings a whole cluster of associations with it, colour, taste, fragility, danger, and hands them to the thing being described. Keeping the two apart also lets a simile hedge, since "like" can quietly mean "like, but not quite", so a comparison can flatter and undercut in the same breath.
Appears in 24 songs
“Passed down like folk songs”
Uncle Jerry identifies this as a simile, noting it appears to be central to the album since the album is titled Folklore. The friendship is compared to folk songs because both survive through oral tradition: they are sung and passed down generation after generation rather than documented formally.
This simile carries one of the song's deepest arguments: that love lasts not because it is recorded but because it is retold. Just as a folk song survives through singing rather than through a written score, the friendship endures through emotional memory rather than through preserved facts like faces or names.
“Your braids like a pattern”
Uncle Jerry identifies this as a simile: the braids are 'like' a pattern. He reads the braid as a symbol of connection, of lives woven together, and the pattern as a mnemonic device, a repeating structure that helps the speaker hold onto the memory even when the face has faded. Community readings open the image out in three directions. The pattern may be the braid's own repeating structure; it may be the shadow of braids moving through the air, which is what a child on a swing would see of herself rather than of somebody else; or it may not be hair at all. Outside the United States a friendship bracelet is braided from thread rather than strung with beads, so "your braids like a pattern" can describe an object still in the speaker's possession - a thing she is looking at while she says she cannot recall the face. That last reading changes what the chorus is doing, since it gives the memory a physical anchor at exactly the point where the poem admits the visual memory has gone.
The simile gives the friend's braids a double life: they are a physical detail the speaker can still recall, and they symbolise the interwoven continuity of the friendship. A pattern is something you can follow and remember, which is why the braids survive in memory when the face does not.
“But I howl like a wolf at the moon”
Uncle Jerry identifies 'Like a Wolf at the Moon' as a simile and connects it to the tarot card The Moon, which features a wolf howling. He notes the card can be 'a symbol of error or danger' and can be 'an ominous card.'
The simile connects the speaker's desperate cry to both the tarot card's ominous symbolism and the witchy atmosphere of the bridge.
“I got cursed like Eve got bitten”
Uncle Jerry explicitly identifies this as 'both an allusion and a simile', 'So I'm like Eve.'
The simile connects the speaker's romantic misfortune to the archetypal fall, placing her personal story in a mythic-theological register.
“Feeling like the very last drops of an ink pen”
Uncle Jerry identifies this as a simile, noting the ink pen image suggests she's run out of words to write about this experience. He also connects it to 'last drops of blood', 'she feels like she's bleeding out her life.' Angela confirms by connecting it to TTPD's vinyl poem line 'My veins of pitch black ink.'
The simile captures both creative exhaustion and emotional depletion, tying the speaker's artistic identity to her romantic suffering.
“And I sound like an infant”
Uncle Jerry identifies this as a simile, 'So how does an infant sound? Someone who whines and cries?' Angela adds 'I'm just like having a meltdown.'
The simile marks the speaker's vulnerability and regression, stripped of composure, reduced to inarticulate need.
“And every day is like a battle”
Uncle Jerry explicitly identifies this as a simile: 'Every day is like a battle, simile.'
The battle simile frames daily life as a struggle, reinforcing the song's juxtaposition between the hardship of daytime and the freedom of nighttime club life.
“We team up, then switch sides like a record changer”
Uncle Jerry identifies this as a simile and calls it his favourite comparative in the piece: 'It's great simile. I mean, I really thought that was... That may be my favourite simile, my favourite comparative in the piece.' He also notes the queer theory implications of 'switching sides like a record.'
The record changer simile captures the fluidity of identity and allegiance central to the new romantic movement, the freedom to flip between sides, styles, and expressions without commitment to one fixed identity.
“But every night with us is like a dream”
Uncle Jerry identifies this as another simile in the chorus, noting it connects to the Eurythmics' 'Sweet Dreams' and the new romantic movement. The dream simile positions nightlife and club culture as the aspirational escape from the battle of daily life.
The dream simile captures the escapist, self-expressive quality of the club scene, the night is where self-expression is free and the new romantics can be themselves.
“The devil that you know Looks now more like an angel”
Uncle Jerry explicitly identifies 'like an angel' as a simile and notes it as part of the final chorus's shift to simile-based figurative language.
The simile transforms the devil characterization from the earlier choruses into something angelic, enacting the song's redemptive reversal at the level of figurative language.
“Spread my wings like a parachute”
Uncle Jerry explicitly identifies this as a simile, 'nice simile, right?' He notes that the final chorus shifts from metaphors and allusions to similes, with 'like a parachute' and 'like an angel' marking a different figurative mode. He observes that 'what's different about the chorus here is the use of similes as opposed to metaphors or allusions.'
The shift to simile in the redemptive final chorus mirrors the shift in tone, from the indirect, allusive register of the wise men's pronouncements to the more direct, personal register of the speaker's self-identification as rescuer.
“But somethin' 'bout it felt like home somehow”
Angela & Uncle Jerry identify this as a simile comparing the relationship to a home, something comfortable and safe.
The simile establishes the warmth and comfort of the relationship's beginning, which contrasts with the coldness that bookends the song.
“Autumn leaves fallin' down like pieces into place”
Angela & Uncle Jerry identify this as a simile comparing falling autumn leaves to puzzle pieces falling into place. Uncle Jerry notes that the pieces form a picture, connecting to 'I can picture it after all these days', the language links puzzle and picture seamlessly.
The simile creates the illusion of things coming together perfectly while the archetypal autumn setting signals impending loss, a tension between the appearance of order and the reality of decay.
“Leavin' like a father Running like water, I”
Uncle Jerry identifies 'really nice similes' in this passage, leaving like a father, running like water, connecting the running water image to 'that river of memory.'
The similes characterise James's departures through concrete, emotionally loaded comparisons, paternal abandonment and the unstoppable flow of water/memory.
“I knew you'd linger like a tattoo kiss”
Uncle Jerry identifies this as a simile he loves, 'linger like a tattoo kiss', noting the permanence of a tattoo and connecting the tattoo kiss to red lipstick imagery. He also notes how difficult it is to remove a tattoo, reinforcing the permanence of memory.
The simile captures the central theme of memory's persistence, the relationship's mark on the speaker is permanent and indelible, like a tattoo.
“Can we watch our phantoms like watching wild horses?”
Uncle Jerry reads wild horses as a simile for the phantoms: 'wild horses, an image of freedom, youth, unbridled passion. Literally unbridled.' The comparison casts memories and imagined futures as beautiful, untamable creatures that can be observed but never caught or controlled.
The simile captures the speaker's wish to treat painful memories as something beautiful viewed from a safe distance, like watching wild animals. The next line ('cooler in theory, but not if you force it to be') immediately undercuts this wish, revealing the simile's limitation.
“My knuckles were bruised like violets”
Angela & Uncle Jerry identify this as a simile comparing bruised knuckles to violets. Uncle Jerry notes both are purple, both elicit old blood imagery, and there is a juxtaposition between the violence of the bruised knuckles and the delicate beauty of the violets.
The simile establishes the song's opening image, connecting violence and beauty, a pattern that recurs throughout the poem with flowers and war imagery intertwined.
“And there's nothing like a mad woman”
Uncle Jerry explicitly identifies this as a simile: 'So it's a simile, right? Like a mad woman. And so like an angry woman, like an insane woman.' He notes the word 'like' functioning as a preposition in the simile construction.
The simile in the chorus is part of the song's sustained ambiguity about the meaning of 'mad,' with the comparison structure allowing both readings (insane and angry) to coexist.
“You're still all over me like a wine-stained dress I can't wear anymore”
Angela & Uncle Jerry explicitly identify this as a simile, 'like a wine stained dress.' Uncle Jerry notes it's 'a really nice imagery' and that the simile compares the perfection of a beautiful dress to the ruination of a relationship: 'the dress is ruined. She can't wear that anymore.'
The simile conveys that the relationship, like the stained dress, is permanently ruined and cannot be returned to its former state.
“Pierce the room like a cannonball”
Uncle Jerry identifies a simile comparing the beloved's impact to a cannonball. The comparison is marked by 'like' and carries military imagery: love hits with explosive, destructive force.
The cannonball simile adds to the song's accumulation of definitions of love. Here love is a sudden, overwhelming impact, continuing the military imagery pattern (armour, cannonball, fight) that runs through the song.
“There were times we could fight like brothers”
Uncle Jerry identifies this as 'a clear simile', the explicit comparison using 'like.' He discusses it as both literal (Jesse does physically fight and tumble) and as a literary device showing familial closeness. He also notes it functions as a cliché, 'fight like brothers', but one that works in context because of Jesse's rough-and-tumble cowgirl persona.
The simile establishes the depth and familiarity of the friendship, fighting like brothers implies the kind of roughhousing that only comes from true closeness and comfort.
“Thunder like a drum”
Uncle Jerry identifies the thunder/drum comparison within the extended storm metaphor, calling it a simile: 'thunder like a drum simile.'
Part of the sustained storm conceit in the bridge, connecting the natural phenomenon of thunder to the rhythmic beating that transitions to 'this life will beat you up.'
“You'd be picked like a rose?”
Uncle Jerry identifies the simile 'picked like a rose,' noting that the poet chooses rose because roses are beautiful, rare, fragile, cultivated and put on display, and known for their fragrance. He argues the invasiveness of smelling a rose parallels the invasiveness of celebrity, going up and smelling a person.
The simile compresses the dual nature of celebrity into a single image: being chosen (picked) is also being severed from your roots, and the rose's fragility and display mirror the ephemeral, invasive nature of fame.
“Bedroom eyes like a remedy”
Uncle Jerry identifies this as a simile, 'he is a tonic, he is a cure for that' confined environment in which the narrator grew up. The comparison uses 'like' to connect the lover's attractiveness to medicine, suggesting he provides relief from the restrictive upbringing.
The simile frames the lover as medicinal, a cure for the confinement of the narrator's religious upbringing, positioning the relationship as therapeutic rather than merely rebellious.
“I touch my phone as if it's your face”
Angela & Uncle Jerry identify a simile using 'as if': the speaker substitutes her phone for physical intimacy with the boy, imagining she is stroking his face.
The simile highlights the gap between the speaker's desire for physical closeness and the digital substitute she settles for, reinforcing the yearning that defines this stage of her adolescence.
“Did you hear my covert narcissism I disguise as altruism Like some kind of congressman?”
Uncle Jerry identifies the congressman comparison as a simile, congresspeople as inherently glad-handing, smiling, hiding the fact that they're real narcissists. She uses the simile to frame her own behaviour as politician-like performance.
The simile connects personal self-deception to political performance, broadening the song's critique of public personas beyond celebrity culture to all public life.
“Laughing with my feet in your lap Like you were my closest friend”
Uncle Jerry identifies this as a simile but notes that 'like' can also mean 'like, but not really', they looked like closest friends, seemed like closest friends, but the simile holds open the possibility that they weren't truly that close. He says it could be a simile, but the word 'like' also carries the meaning of resemblance without reality.
The simile introduces doubt into what appears to be an intimate, joyful scene, they resembled closest friends but may not have been, foreshadowing the relationship's superficiality.
“August sipped away like a bottle of wine”
Angela & Uncle Jerry identify 'like a bottle of wine' as an explicit simile. Uncle Jerry explores why wine is the chosen vehicle: 'It's the color of blood. It's tasty. It's an inebriant. It makes you relaxed. It makes you more pliant.' He notes that while there are very few comparatives (metaphors and similes) in this song, which is itself notable and 'atypical Taylor', this simile does significant work. Two community readings deepen the simile: a bottle holds a set volume, so the summer sipped away is finite by nature, gone when it is gone; and "sipped" is slow, deliberate, adult drinking, teenagers do not sip wine, so the rememberer stands years from the events she is pouring back out.
The wine simile connects the fading of the month/relationship to the consumption of something intoxicating and pleasurable, something enjoyed in the moment that inevitably runs out.
“The holidays linger like bad perfume”
Angela & Uncle Jerry both highlight this as one of the best lines of the poem. Uncle Jerry discusses the comparison between lingering holidays and bad perfume, noting that everyone has experienced fragrances that sometimes go together and sometimes don't. The simile extends to running from the perfume, from previous flames, and from memories of the old hometown.
The simile captures the inescapable quality of both the holiday season and the memories it brings, they cling to you no matter how far you run, reinforcing the song's theme that you can't go home again but you can't fully escape it either.
“Gave up on me like I was a bad drug”
Uncle Jerry identifies this as a simile, a comparison using 'like.' Angela & Uncle Jerry note that the song is built heavily on comparatives, metaphors, and similes. While technically a simile rather than a metaphor, Uncle Jerry groups it with the song's comparative devices.
The drug simile frames the speaker as something the lover consumed and then rejected, an addiction that was kicked rather than a person who was valued.
“I can read you like a magazine”
Angela & Uncle Jerry identify this as a simile, 'she can read them like a magazine.' Uncle Jerry then notes the double function: the simile also points to where the public will read about the next love affair, in cheap tabloids and magazines.
The simile does double duty, it characterizes the speaker's shallow assessment of the partner (readable, surface-level) while also pointing to the media landscape that constructs and consumes her public persona.
“I'm shining like fireworks over your sad empty town”
Uncle Jerry identifies 'like fireworks' as a simile, noting it is part of the fire imagery cluster that runs through the bridge. After the partner tried to burn her out, she is now shining with her own light, and the comparison to fireworks captures both brilliance and spectacle. He also notes the visual imagery of 'shining' as very positive diction.
The simile marks the song's triumphant turn: the speaker has taken the partner's destructive fire and transformed it into something beautiful and visible. The fireworks are public, bright, and celebratory, contrasting with the 'sad empty town' the partner is left with.
“Like passing notes in secrecy”
Angela & Uncle Jerry identify this as a simile, Uncle Jerry explicitly names it as such. The playful conversation between the speaker and the stranger is compared to children passing notes in school, conveying the secretive, youthful, and innocent quality of the exchange.
The simile reinforces the speaker's self-awareness about the childish, almost foolish quality of the infatuation, and contributes to the fairy tale innocence of the encounter.