Literary devices provide a freshness to literature that
embellishes meaning and expression and enjoyment.
1. In
the opening of the play A Midsummer Night's Dream, Theseus, the
Duke of Athens, personifies the moon, giving it the ability to see
(behold),
And
then the moon, like to a silver bow
New-bent in heaven,
shall behold the night [personification]
Of our
solemnities. (1.1.9-11)
2.
There is also a simile in these lines a the moon is
compared to a silver bow using "like." Similes make comparisons using the words
like or
as.
Another
simile appears in Act II when Helena begs Demetrius not to run away from
her even though, as she declares, "No, no , I am as ugly as a
bear...." (2.2.21)
3. Later in this second act, Lyslander
speaks and uses a metaphor, an implied, unstated comparison
between two unlike things. In this scene, Lysander denies that he loves Hermia, and
says that he loves Helena instead,
readability="11">
Not Hermia but Helena I
love:
Who will not change a
raven for a
dove?
The will of man is by his reason
sway'd
And reason says you are the worthier maid.
(2.2.116-119)
Hermia is
compared to a raven, while Helena is the dove. Another
metaphor comes a few lines
later:
And
leads me to your eyes, where I o'erlook
Love's stories, written in Love's
richest book. (2.2.125)
4. In
Act III, there is alliteration, the repetition of beginning cosonant sounds. Here it
the /s/. Alliteration makes a line seem faster.
readability="8">
Sever themselves and madly sweep the sky,
So, at his sight, away his fellows
fly;(3.2.24-25)
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