In This Poem How Do the similes add meaning?

Question

My parents kept me from children who were rough

and who threw words like stones and who wore torn clothes.

Their thighs showed through rags. They ran in the street

And climbed cliffs and stripped by the country streams.

I feared more than tigers their MUSCLES LIKE IRON

And their jerking hands and their knees tight on my arms.

I feared the salt coarse pointing of those boys

Who copied my lisp behind me on the road.

They were lithe, they sprang out behind hedges

LIKE DOGS TO BARK AT MY WORLD. They threw mud

And I looked another way, pretending to smile,

I longed to forgive them, yet they never smiled.

similes i found are in caps

Answer 1

There is a third simile; in the first stanza THREW WORDS LIKE STONES.

Similes generally add mental pictures and that enhances meaning.

Answer 2

Threw words like stones is a simile.

Similes add meaning because they paint a vivid picture of precisely HOW the description seemed to the author. In the sentence "threw words like stones" it is saying that the words hurt internally as much as stones would hurt externally. In "muscles like iron" it is describing exactly how tough and intimidating the children's strength is. "Like dogs to bark at my world" can be taken a couple ways. Think about why dogs bark at people. They usually bark to scare away intruders.  

Answer 3

The similes create sensual imagery . For example, to look at the first simile, 'like stones' You can almost feel and see the impact of the words on the poet as the taunts are hurled at him.  To go the the second, we see and feel th muscles that are so strong that they are described as 'like iron'.

The last one is particularly poignant, Can you see, and hear the boys as dogs?

The point of similes is to cross the boundaries between what the poet thinks and what he/she feels. They do this by letting you feel it through comparisons.  You're supposed to think about each transformation.

I hope that helps.