Function of Simile: Poetry Practice Test

Read the following original poem excerpt:

The first night in the new apartment,

I learned the pipes’ impatience, the radiator’s hiss.

Your side of the closet stayed politely empty.

I set one plate on the table, then another,

as if company might arrive.

Silence gathered, like dust under a bed, in corners

I kept forgetting to look at.

What is the function of the simile like dust under a bed in the excerpt?

Read the following poem excerpt:

I keep your last voicemail saved,

not for the words—just the breath between them.

At night it plays, like a small tide worrying a stone,

patient as if patience could remake

what has already happened.

The simile chiefly emphasizes