Frank J. Wilstach, comp. A Dictionary of Similes. 1916.
Keen
Wit as keen as archer’s dart.
—Alvey A. Adee
Keen as a bride.
—Anonymous
Keen as the sight of an eagle.
—Anonymous
Keen as the sun.
—Anonymous
Keen, like the horn of the cuspèd moon.
—Arabian Nights
As keen for profit as a Polish Jew.
—Honoré de Balzac
Keen as the torture of impending bankruptcy.
—Honoré de Balzac
As keen as a miser after his pay.
—Jules Q. de Beaurepaire
Keen as Jove’s lightning wing’d athwart the sky.
—William Broome
As keen as anguish.
—James Cawthorn
Keen as a poniard-thrust.
—Eliza Cook
Keen as arrows.
—Gustave Flaubert
Keen as a razor.
—John Gay
Keen as a hawk.
—Thomas Hood
Keen as a sword.
—Rudyard Kipling
Keen like a spear.
—Sidney Lanier
Keen as a wolf.
—James Montgomery
Keen of glance as a falcon.
—Ouida
Keen as steel.
—Ouida
Keen as a blinded man …
Smells in the dark the cold odour of the earth.
—Stephen Phillips
Keen as undrawn sword.
—Frank Richardson
Keen as razor’s edge.
—William Shakespeare
Keen as the engine
Which tortures and which kills.
—Percy Bysshe Shelley
Keen as a sword’s edge.
—Algernon Charles Swinburne
Keen as burns the passion of the rose.
—Algernon Charles Swinburne
Keen as death to smite.
—Algernon Charles Swinburne
Keen as flame.
—Algernon Charles Swinburne
Keen as hate.
—Algernon Charles Swinburne
Keen as iron in the flesh.
—Algernon Charles Swinburne
Keen as lightning’s life.
—Algernon Charles Swinburne
Eyes as keen as pain.
—Algernon Charles Swinburne
Keen as sleep and strife.
—Algernon Charles Swinburne
Keen as the fire’s own fang.
—Algernon Charles Swinburne
Keen as the heart of Mars.
—Algernon Charles Swinburne
Keen as hunger.
—Algernon Charles Swinburne
Keen as the heart’s desire.
—Algernon Charles Swinburne
Keen as the manslayer’s knife.
—Algernon Charles Swinburne
Keen as the sea’s thrill towards a kindling star.
—Algernon Charles Swinburne
Keen as desertion.
—Sir Henry Taylor
Keen as a sabre from its sheath.
—John Greenleaf Whittier
Keen and eager as a fine-nosed hound.
—William Wordsworth
His face was keen as is the wind
That cuts along the hawthorn fence.
—William Wordsworth