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CREATIVITY CHALLENGE 2024.09.08 - Literary Devices
Great writers have always used literary devices to make their work more exciting and appealing. Letās learn about these devices as we strive to improve our own writing. Weāll start with two well known literary devices:
Metaphor - a figure of speech that compares two things that are not literally the same, but are used to create a comparison or analogy
Simile - a figure of speech that compares two unlike things using the words ālikeā or āasā
Our first creativity challenge for the fall is to collect examples of metaphors and similes from great writers. For each example, indicate whether it is a metaphor or a simile, and give credit to the original author.
Here are two examples to get us started:
Metaphor:
āIt is the east, and Juliet is the sun." ~ Shakespeare - Romeo and Juliet
Simile:
āHer romantic mind was like the tiny boxes, one within the other, that come from the puzzling East ā ~ J. M. Barrie - Peter Pan
This will be very enjoyable. I would like to use more metaphors and similes in my own writing!
Here is my first example:
Metaphor:
One of my favorite tiny poems is by e. e. cummings, and contains a beautiful set of metaphors :
love is a place
& through this place of
love move
(with brightness of peace)
all places
yes is a world
& in this world of
yes live
(skilfully curled)
all worlds
āThe first week of August hangs at the very top of the summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning.ā Simile from Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
Lovely, Susan! Iām one of those who are terrified of Ferris wheels, especially when they stop and Iām at the top. I can feel that same breathlessness and praying for movement - any movement - in the wonderful August simile. Great find. Iāll have to read āTuck Everlastingā!
O my Luve is like a red, red rose.
A Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns
Simile
All the worldās a stage, and all the men and women merely players.
As You Like It by William Shakespeare
Metaphor
Metaphor
āThere are strings in the human heart that better not be vibratedā
Barnaby Rudge - Charles Dickens
āDialect words - those terrible marks of the beast to the truly genteelā
The Mayor of Casterbridge - Thomas Hardy
Simile
āIt was a turkey! He could never have stood upon his legs, that bird. He would have snapped 'em off short in a minute like sticks of sealing waxā
A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
āWhy it was that upon this beautiful feminine tissue, sensitive as gossamer and practically blank as snowā¦ā
Tess of the Dāurbevilles - Thomas Hardy
Hereās an excerpt from one of my very favorite poems of all times, The Man Watching, by Rainer Maria Rilke. Iāve included enough of the poem to put the āwrestlersā into context. The similes are in the last four lines.
What is extraordinary and eternal
does not want to be bent by us.
I mean the Angel who appeared
to the wrestlers of the Old Testament:
when the wrestlersā sinews
grew long like metal strings,
he felt them under his fingers
like chords of deep music.
Simile
Ah, Julian. These are jewels indeed! I know all the authors and most of the works youāve quoted, but donāt remember these exact literary moments. Thanks for sharing these.
Iād like to know more about the context and meaning of the one about āDialect wordsā. It sounds intriguing!
Lifeās but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more.
Macbeth by Shakespeare
Metaphor
That is a great example, Margarida.
Shakespeare never fails to inspire us!
The sun in the west was a drop of burning gold that slid nearer the sill of the world.
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Metaphor
āHopeā is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul.
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all.
āHopeā is the Thing with Feathers by Emily Dickinson
Metaphor
To describe my mother would be to write about a hurricane in its perfect power. Or the climbing, falling colours of a rainbow.
If growing up is painful for the southern black girl, being aware of her displacement is the rust on the razor that threatens the throat. It is an unnecessary insult.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Metaphors
Hello everyone,
I reached out last week to the local community college by phone. The person I spoke with, gave me the name and department to correspond with. And so I did.
I composed an informative and inviting email outlining the advantages of writing for voice.clubās monthly flash fiction contests! Also, I included the option of being a VIP paying member as well.
As of now, Iāve yet to hear back from them. Hopefully, someone in their English Department will offer this to their students!? I think any student interested in writing and this profession, would love this opportunity! The professional feedback that voice.clubās staff offers, is of such value!
Deborah Goulding
Julie,
Iāve gone to great lengths to read this poem over and over by this author.
There are sites that break down the meaning of each verse/paragraph.
What I havenāt found, is your chosen passage of this poem.
Please explain to me in the best of your knowledge, the breakdown of this meaning referring to the āOld Testamentā.
Thank you.