Frank J. Wilstach, comp. A Dictionary of Similes. 1916.

Struggle

Struggling like a flower towards Heaven.
—Anonymous

Struggling like a man led towards death and crucifixion.
—Thomas Carlyle

Struggled, like an old lawyer between two fees.
—William Congreve

Struggled instinctively like an animal under a net.
—Joseph Conrad

Struggles, like a living creature making its way from under a great snowdrift.
—George Eliot

Struggling like a captive dove which wishes to resume its flight.
—Gustave Flaubert

Struggled, like a dragon-doubt glooming a lonely spirit.
—Charles Harpur

She struggled against silence like soda-water against the cork.
—Anthony Hope

Struggle, like a wild, frantic bird that is rending its plumage in its desperation.
—Victor Hugo

Struggling like black spirits in hell.
—Victor Hugo

Struggled together like foes in a burning city.
—Henry W. Longfellow

Struggle, like a stricken hare
When swoops the monarch bird of air.
—T. Buchanan Read

Struggling like an animal in an air pump.
—Sir Richard Steele

Struggling … like a wild beast tangled in a net.
—Rabindranath Tagore

Struggled like a bird chained and restive.
—Walter Thornbury