A major factor separating Middle English from Modern English is known as the Great Vowel Shift, a radical change in pronunciation during the 15th, 16th and 17th Century, as a result of which long vowel sounds began to be made higher and further forward in the mouth (short vowel sounds were largely unchanged).
Simile you know when an author is using simile because they use like or as so in this case... “Like stew beef vibrating the drum head near the edge with his fingers” hope this helps :)
