Eye Movements

Eye Movements 

1. Blinked … as if chasing a fly away —Aharon Megged
2. Blinking like a frightened cat —Dan Wakefield
3. Blinking like a mechanical toy —Peter Benchley
4. Eyeballs bulged like a lizard’s —Paige Mitchell
5. Eyes … beginning to bob like fishing corks on the sea —William Diehl
6. Eyes bounce like marbles —Norman Mailer
7. Eyes closed, almost as if he was silently praying —John Fowles
8. Eyes darting like astonished fish —Brian Glanville
9. Eyes dart like a shoplifter’s —Hilma Wolitzer
10. Eyes dart like swallows —Marge Piercy
11. Eyes did a dance like two flies looking for a place to light —Robert Campbell
12. (He nodded his head, but his) eyes didn’t move, as if they were weighted in their sockets like the eyes of a doll —Jonathan Valin
13. Eyes dilated like an animal’s caught in a trap —V. S. Pritchett
14. Eyes dilate like targets on a rifle range, and each word and gesture is emphasized by a blast of cigarette smoke that makes her look like she’s walking in a cumulous cloud —Rex Reed

    The actress thus profiled by Reed is Bette Davis.

15. Eyes flashed and twinkled … like the lamps of a lighthouse —Anthony Powell
16. Eyes flashing like magnifying glasses —H. E. Bates
17. Eyes flickered like uncertain lights —Ann Rice
18. Eyes flicker like leaves —Marge Piercy
19. Eyes fluttered around the room like moths —Donald McCaig
20. Eyes hovered about like mosquitoes —C. J. Koch
21. (Yonatan’s) eyes narrowed like gunslits —Amos Oz
22. (Schwend’s hurt) eyes opened like blooming peonies —Herbert Lieberman
23. Eyes opened like windows —Sharon Sheehe Stark
24. Eyes … opened wide like a clairvoyant’s —Anais Nin
25. Eyes roamed about like jellyfish —H. E. Bates
26. Eyes rolled in their sockets like loose marbles —Truman Capote
27. Eyes seemed to be clambering frantically, like a pair of blatant prisoners behind her heavy glasses —V. S. Pritchett
28. (His little) eyes snapped like two sparks. Like two sparks they glowed in the smoulder of his bearded face —Katherine Mansfield

    In this example from her short story, Ole Underwood, Katherine Mansfield demonstrates the effectiveness of repeating a simile.

29. Eyes that kept winking and twinkling at each side of his inquisitive nose, as if they were playing a perpetual game of peep-bo with that feature —Charles Dickens
30. Eyes … twirling around like fruit-flies —Jane Wagner
31. Eyes were closed like a man in violent prayer —William Styron
32. Furtive little eyes kept darting around in his head like rodents —Thomas Wolfe
33. Languidly half closes his eyes, like a cat on a sofa —Anton Chekhov
34. Lowered her eyes like a nun beholding a statue —Honore de Balzac
35. Narrowing his eyes like someone who knows there’s a mouse in the soup —Peter Meinke
36. Rapidly blinking eyes, as though he were caught in a constant sandstorm —Daphne Merkin
37. Rolled his eyes like a pair of gambler’s dice —Paige Mitchell
38. Tightly shutting her eyes like a shot pheasant falling out of the sky —Kenzaburo Oë
39. Wide-spaced eyes floating like sea-slivers above his cheek bones —Julia O’Faolain