The poet’s experience is communicated by using many devices like rhyme, rhythm , image etc. to achieve total communication.
This is a figure of speech in which one thing is likened to another in such a way as to clarify and enhance an image. It is an explicit comparison.
Words like as and like are used. This is a figurative device of great antiquity .

as dizzy as a goose
as devoted as a mother
As stubborn as a mule
as cautious as a fox
as careless as a wind
as fair as the morn / truth
as shy as a squirrel / fawn
as active as a quick silver
as afraid as a grasshopper
as clean as a new pin
as heavy as an elephant
as superstitious as sailor
as vain as a peacock
as clever as paint
as rude as a bear
as costly as election