Simile in The Garden

In presenting a simile that does not reflect the natural order of the world, the speaker forces the audience to stretch their imagination. She yokes together two unlike images to create a feeling rather than a precise description of her physical reality. In this way, the audience is able to enter the mind of the speaker and experience her feelings rather than objectively watch what is going on in the scene.

Much like the comparison the speaker draws between the rose and hail, the simile “like spilt dye from a rock” subverts the audience’s expectations. If one cuts open a rock, dye would not “spill” out of it. The simile here adds to the vibrancy of the image: the flower is so robust and full of color that it could even make a rock “spill dye.”