Have you ever read the poem Knock, Knock? If you have then you probably know that the author, Daniel Beaty, uses many types of literary devices in his poem called Knock, Knock. Beaty had a game that he played with his dad when he was very little, later in his life that game turned into something real. In the poem, the author uses literary devices such as simile, hyperbole, and symbolism to express the development of word meanings in his poem. Beaty uses a couple different similes in his poem, the poem states “Walk like a man” and “Walk like a god”. He uses those similes to express the mood and tone of Knock, Knock. It makes the poem more interesting when it has similes because it adds more dramatic effect to the text in which you are reading.
There are multiple examples of visual imagery in this poem. An example of a simile is “curled like a possum within the hollow trunk”. The effect this has is the way it creates an image for the reader to see how the man is sleeping. An example of personification is, “yet both belonged to the bush, and now are one”. The result this has is how it creates an emotion for the reader to feel
The first aspect of language, which he uses is metaphor in the beginning of the poem when he is describing the dwarf sitting outside the church. He uses metaphor as he says, “The dwarf with his hands on backwards Sat, slumped like a half – filled sack On tiny twisted legs from which Sawdust might run.” The metaphor here of the dwarf sitting like a ‘half filled sack’ is describing the dwarf and how he has a deformed body. He is being compared to looking like a sack, which is slumped and half empty. This is effective as it seems as though the dwarf cannot help himself
A good example would be when the mother in the story talks about her life using a metaphor of a staircase. In the beginning of the poem, the mother says, "Well, son, I’ll tell you: Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. It’s had tacks in it, And splinters, [...] But all the time, I’se been a-climbin’ on" (Hughes lines 1-9). This metaphor describes the mother's life experience, the reader can infer was hard, but the nice part of this excerpt is the final lines, where the metaphor of continuing to climb on the staircase is used to symbolize the mother's goal to persevere, no matter how tough life gets because she believes her efforts will accomplish something good.
...veryone else. He wakes up every day ready to crow his symbol to bring on that day. In the poem he is ready to protect all the female chickens, from another cock that could be in there house. He is ready to battle to the death for what he thinks is his. In this poem he uses ridicule, when he is talking about the old man in a terminal ward, and he also uses connotations. Some example of connotations are when he uses words like; enraged, sullenly, savagery, unappeased and terminal.
An example is, when Grummore makes reference to the heir the nurse tearfully said, “never had no hair. Anybody that studied the the loyal family knowed that.” This is funny because the nurse says hair instead of heir and loyal not royal.To support his purpose and tone, the author uses literary devices such as simile and personification. Simile uses like or as to compare unrelated items. When Kay was trying to convince Sir Ector to go to London, White uses the phrase “eyes like marbles” to describe Grummore’s eyes. He also uses simile during the scene where Merlin is giving up his position as tutor and is leaving the household. White describes Archimedes as “spinning like a top” when he disappears from Merlyn's shoulder. Also, in the scene where Wart pulled the sword from the stone, thousands
When needing to seek refuge, Annie Dillard goes to Tinker Creek and immerses herself in nature. During one of these trips, she has a little snippet of a revelation, which makes her see the beauty and the ugliness of the world in harmony and thus a sense of what the world is. In this passage, Dillard uses symbolism, verb choice and similes to explain how even though something might be ugly and appalling, it is part of the beauty of life.
In the poem, it says, “ Does it dry up/like a raisin in the sun?”. Since they are comparing two dissimilar things using “like” or “as”, it is a simile. In “Harlem Night”, there is imagery. In the poem, it says, “Moon is shining./Night sky is blue./Stars are great drops/Of golden dew” (Hughes 7-10). There is nice, descriptive images.
A name is given in the second stanza “Tom Dacre” used to show the realism of the event described in the poem. The second stanza contains the only simile in this poem, “That curl’d like a lamb’s back”(6), symbolizing the lamb as innocence and when they shave the child’s head it’s like they are taking the innocence away from the child.
At the beginning of the poem, the speaker starts by telling the reader the place, time and activity he is doing, stating that he saw something that he will always remember. His description of his view is explained through simile for example “Ripe apples were caught like red fish in the nets of their branches” (Updike), captivating the reader’s attention
The poem opens upon comparisons, with lines 3 through 8 reading, “Ripe apples were caught like red fish in the nets/ of their branches. The maples/ were colored like apples,/part orange and red, part green./ The elms, already transparent trees,/ seemed swaying vases full of sky.” The narrator’s surroundings in this poem illustrate him; and the similes suggest that he is not himself, and instead he acts like others. Just as the maples are colored like apples, he
These poems represent the idea of allusion by symbolizing the need for poetry. For example in sentence 9 of Introduction to Poetry he uses allusion to demonstrate there is a dream or accomplishment he wants to do with "his students". In sentences 16-19 of Trouble with poetry, he also uses allusion because it looks like he has an idea in mind and has plans set ahead.
This change in tone echoes the emotions and mental state of the narrator. At the beginning of the poem, the narrator starts somewhat nervous. However, at the end, he is left insane and delusional. When he hears a knocking at the door, he logically pieces that it is most likely a visitor at the door.
Not only the words, but the figures of speech and other such elements are important to analyzing the poem. Alliteration is seen throughout the entire poem, as in lines one through four, and seven through eight. The alliteration in one through four (whisky, waltzing, was) flows nicely, contrasting to the negativity of the first stanza, while seven through eight (countenance, could) sound unpleasing to the ear, emphasizing the mother’s disapproval. The imagery of the father beating time on the child’s head with his palm sounds harmful, as well as the image of the father’s bruised hands holding the child’s wrists. It portrays the dad as having an ultimate power over the child, instead of holding his hands, he grabs his wrists.
The passage of the simile is the first verse paragraph following several prose paragraphs. The structure of the verse is loose in following rhythmic or syllabic patterns. Although the form does not have any specific significance to the content, perhaps it is written in verse to sound somewhat poetic. Because the scene is very descriptive and dramatic, it is fitting to write it in a poem-like structure rather than simple prose.
“So… Wilbur is being a little disingenuous in referring to his poem as a simile. That said, the whole of the poem is really no more than the working out of Wilbur’s initial simile, The Mind is like a bat” (Poemshape.com) Some start to question if the cavern that the bat is in is supposed to be compared to consciousness that the mind is in. Having this comparison actually helps us get a better understanding of this poem. In the last two lines of the first quatrain the poet talks about ‘contriving by a kind of senseless wit, not to conclude against a wall of stone’.