A simile compares two or more different things using “like” or “as.” Pastan incorporates multiple similes throughout “Dreams.”

She portrays dreams as an elusive, contradictory place. Different periods interact, concepts and moments slide together, and interpretations feel real in dreams. As a result, dreams are hard to recapture and describe.

Similes perfectly capture dreams’ slippery nature and the speaker’s attempts to describe them. Similes create an almost seamless transformation and sensation, but the conjunction interrupts it. “Like” and “as” separate the comparisons, implying that the similarity is not exact or immediately apparent.

For example, Pastan begins the second stanza by saying dreams “are as many as leaves” (Line 7). However, she keeps building new similes onto it. The leaves change into birds and sand on the beach (Lines 9, 14). By evolving the simile, the speaker feels dissatisfied and frustrated by her attempts to articulate her thoughts.

A metaphor is an imaginative comparison that does not use “like” or “as.” Metaphors create a direct comparison between two or more different concepts, usually using “is.”

However, Pastan subtly constructs her metaphors without “is.” As the speaker wakes up from a dream, she observes that “the sky was starry to the very rind” (Line 33).