Literary Devices essays

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1 Page 631 Words
Introduction In the classic short story "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs, the element of foreshadowing plays a crucial role in building suspense and foretelling the tragic events that unfold. Through carefully crafted hints and subtle clues, the author masterfully guides the readers' expectations and sets the stage for the haunting consequences of the fateful monkey's paw. This essay will...
HorrorLiterary DevicesShort Story
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3 Pages 1333 Words
‘A Dream Within a Dream’ by Edgar Allan Poe is a poem about the loss of love, the heartbreaking sadness that one faces, and the short nature of time. The poem is well known due to Poe’s various poetic devices that have been used to represent the intense context that Poe expresses in this poem. One can easily notice that...
Edgar Allan PoeLiterary DevicesPoetry
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2 Pages 1004 Words
Introduction John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939, remains an enduring piece of American literature, notable for its vivid portrayal of the Great Depression era and the Dust Bowl migration. The novel's power lies not only in its narrative but also in its rich use of metaphors that enhance the thematic depth and emotional resonance. Steinbeck employs metaphors...
Literary CriticismLiterary DevicesMetaphor
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1 Page 591 Words
“Maybe there is a beast… maybe it’s only us” (Golding, 89). In the novel ‘Lord of the Flies’ by William Golding, a group of schoolboys fights to the death to escape their fear of themselves. Golding uses the scene where Simon is murdered to show how fear can dehumanize a man. Throughout the novel fear becomes a much bigger idea...
1 Page 471 Words
In chapter one of “Invisible Man,” through his use of imagery and metaphors, Ralph Ellison conveys the premise of how vulnerable and powerless the people of color are made by the whites while living in such an unequal and racist society. Ellison describes a battle royal scene in which a group of 10 young black boys was blindfolded, stripped, and...
Literary CriticismLiterary DevicesMetaphor
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2 Pages 897 Words
Blacklight “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that.” (King Jr.) Heart of Darkness, a novella written by Joseph Conrad, takes place on the River Thames and follows a narrator listening to a retelling of Marlow’s journey along the Congo River. While traveling into the heart of Africa, Marlow learns of the origins of Kurtz, a remarkable ivory...
Literary CriticismLiterary DevicesMetaphor
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2 Pages 756 Words
The poems 'The Second Coming' by William Butler Yeats and 'In a Station of the Metro' by Ezra Pound have a strong sense of fragmentation and despair in them. Fragmentation is one of the major features of modern poetry. Modern poets use fragmented images in their poems to give us the sense of fragmentation. Despair is another common feature of...
Literary DevicesPoetry
like 433
2 Pages 965 Words
In life, taking the known route does not necessarily have the most beneficial ending- this is partially due to the fact that the unknown road provides options for personal growth and new experiences. This idea is conveyed throughout ​The Road not Taken​ and is specially reinforced in the last stanza. ​The Road Not Taken​ was written by Robert Frost in...
Literary DevicesMetaphorPoetry
like 247
1 Page 662 Words
O Captain! My captain is a poem composed by the American poet Walt Whitman who is called the bird of democracy. Most of his works reflect his ideas about women's rights, immigration laws, and labor issues. This poem in particular is an elegy written after the death of former American president Abraham Lincoln. Walt Whitman's "O Captain! My Captain!" stands...
Literary DevicesMetaphorPoetry
like 364
6 Pages 2600 Words
Monsters are a metaphor for fate and the destructive forces of nature. “He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster . . . when you gaze long into the abyss the abyss also gazes into you.” Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good, and Evil, 1886 Subsequent to the publication of J.R.R Tolkien’s “The...
BeowulfLiterary DevicesMetaphor
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1 Page 562 Words
In the novel ‘Lord of the Flies’, Golding uses many symbols that foreshadow the boys, mirror them, and give a deeper meaning to the story. The conch is one of many in the story that has its own meaning and importance in the story as it is a symbol of order and hierarchy amongst the group and boys. Later, this...
2 Pages 773 Words
William Golding encompasses an abundance of symbolism in his book ​‘Lord of the Flies’.​ From the island to each and every kid, all are symbolic representations of Golding’s notion of the true nature of mankind. Mankind, depicted in an allegorical novel of a couple of boys from England between the ages of six and twelve who have crash landed on...
1 Page 596 Words
‘How Did I Get Away with Killing One of the Biggest Lawyers in the State? It Was Easy’ by Alice Walker represents the life of the viewpoint character. She allows herself to become grounded within an elaborate affair pervaded by sexual objectification as a result of aspects of her life, such as her relationship with her mother, as well as...
Alice WalkerLiterary DevicesShort Story
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3 Pages 1160 Words
The Odyssey is a classic ancient Greek poem credited to Homer, following the Greek hero Odysseus and his extensive journey home after the fall of Troy. In his absence, his wife Penelope “is sieged by suitors who want her hand in marriage and with it her kingdom” (Morford, Lenardon, & Sham, 2019, p. 520). Despite having over one hundred wilful...
like 286
2 Pages 963 Words
Symbolism, geography, and irony are brought up many times by Coelho throughout the book. In the book “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho, different types of literary devices are brought up, the book is spoken in 3rd person by a boy named Santiago and his Personal Legend. This story begins when they had the same dream over time, he met the...
like 432
1 Page 661 Words
In Elie Wiesel’s horrifyingly real, raw memoir Night, he develops a very strong central idea surrounding the significance of identity; he makes it very notable that one’s identity can be easily influenced and changed subject to your environment and personal hardship. From the beginning to the end of the book, we follow Wiesel along his journey of surviving through the...
Literary CriticismLiterary DevicesNight
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1 Page 472 Words
These are some examples of one of the bad experiences the Jews had to face during the holocaust. This is how Elie Wiesel felt in Night by Elie Wiesel himself. Wiesel is a Jew during the holocaust who is sent with his father to different concentration camps. He and his father face a lot of challenges to the point where...
Critical ThinkingLiterary DevicesNight
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3 Pages 1353 Words
In some ways, we are all trapped within our own reality. This reality is subject to our own socio-economic and political context. Where we are born and what time period we were born into we have no choice but we do we do have the choice to challenge our contextual bonds. Today I will be comparing a poem by a...
like 301
3 Pages 1368 Words
Pi's multiculturalism and abstract mindset have been seen through his numerous beliefs and solid qualities likewise mirror that of post pioneers. Generally speaking, Life of Pi from numerous points of view shows a solid association and joins the idea of postmodernism into the novel in different manners. I totally agree that Life of Pi relates to post-modernism and even more...
like 235
3 Pages 1238 Words
When thinking about dreams, usually somewhere uplifting and happy comes to mind. Not some dark and lonely place with skies of fire and spine-chilling creatures everywhere. This vision can be seen more as a nightmare, if anything. For some reason, this particular author does not consider it as such a bad thing. In the poem ‘Dream-Land’ by Edgar Allan Poe,...
Edgar Allan PoeLiterary DevicesPoetry
like 367
1 Page 535 Words
Appearances often hide reality is a significant part of the play, revealing the tragedy in which the characters must cloak up their nature, indicating things are not always as they seem. The reality of someone can be changed depending on their desires and ambitions. Shakespeare presents appearance as a visual outforward form of what we see, where reality is what...
Literary CriticismLiterary DevicesMacbeth
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4 Pages 1643 Words
Death of a Salesman is a play written by Arthur Miller in 1949. The play focuses on the last 24 hours of the main character, Willy Loman's life. It also shows flashbacks which include memories that Willy has experienced. In this essay, I will analyze the main themes along with the structure of the play and how the characters are...
2 Pages 1041 Words
In the play, “Death of a Salesman,” Arthur Miller uses a number of literary devices to convey his overarching messages to the audience. His symbolism in particular allows him to shape the themes of this story by repeatedly emphasizing their importance throughout the duration of the play. In this play, Arthur Miller uses a number of symbols pertaining to Willy,...
2 Pages 929 Words
George Orwell and his Animal Farm George Orwell is a prominent English writer of the first half of the 20th century. He was recognized as one of the most influential satiric writers whose works have merited detailed scholarly attention. More than half a century after they were written, Orwell’s books are still much in demand. John Rodden, the researcher of...
like 293
2 Pages 1069 Words
Edgar Allan Poe describes the feeling of guilt and fear through symbols in the stories ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ and ‘The Black Cat’. For instance, the eye in each story symbolizes how the narrator views himself. However, the narrators are both seen differently. Additionally, the space beneath the floorboards and the space behind the wall both symbolize the subconscious. Although these...
like 432
8 Pages 3729 Words
Introduction Literature is the heart of a language that manifests human language in real sense which the writers can express their ideas and use their imagination to create an artistic world rich of mysteries and creativity including poetry, drama and fiction through its elements. This chapter is about the magnificent story Harry Potter that is full of fantasy and supernatural...
Harry PotterLiterary DevicesNovel
like 349

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