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

Awful

Awful as the negligence of woe.
—Anonymous

Awful as justice.
—George H. Boker

Awful as the last trump that shall proclaim to mankind the end of the world.
—Anatole France

Awful as clouds that nurse the glowing storm.
—Oliver Goldsmith

Awful as the thunder.
—John M. Mason

Awful as a villain in a domestic melodrama.
—Charles Selby

Awful as silence.
—Percy Bysshe Shelley