What is a literary device and how many are in "The Ex-Basketball Player"?Is there anyway you could point them out to me and explain?

Poets use literary devices, methods of using language to
create new ways of perceiving things. In "The Ex-Basketball Player," while Updike's
recurring character of the former high school athlete who has missed his chance for
success works at Berth's Garage reminisces about his former glory days, Updike portrays
this reminiscence in creative ways.  He uses the literary devices of imagery, simile,
metaphor,
and personification,

Personification 
[the  attribution of human qualities to non-human
things]

That Pearl Avenue "runs" past the high-school lot
and "Bends" with the tracks, then "stops, cut off" suggests life on the street and helps
the reader to visualize the settings.

The gas pumps are
described as "idiot pumps" with "rubber elbows" and "nostrils" and "squat, without a
head"  like a "football type."  This personification underscores the ex-basketball
player's failure as it suggests that only the idiot pumps now are Flick's
audience.

Flick nods to "bright applauding tiers/ Of Necco
Wafers, Nibs, and Juju Beads."  The only audience he has is not human; behind Flick is
merely a counter of snacks.

That Flick has such "fine and
nervous" hands "makes no difference to the lug wrench" suggests that the lug wrench can
think.

Simile [a comparison
using like or as
]

In describing Flick, the Updike writes, "His hands were
like wild birds."

Imagery 
[descriptive language to recreate sensory
experiences]

In stanza two the image of Flick towering over
the "idiot pumps" suggests that at one time Flick was like nobility among the
townspeople.

"the bright applauding tiers" suggests the
crowds that once came to watch the town's superstar.

Flick
now is no superstar; he is "Grease-gray," dirty from his menial
job.

Parallelism  [two or more
lines are directly related in structure]

The parallel
structure in the verb phrases "just sells gas,/Cehck oil, and changes flats" creates a
routine sound to Flick's menial job.

Each stanza is six
lines long, with each line about the same length.  This appearance also suggests the
routine life of Flick now in contrast to the excitement of having been a basketball
star.

Blank
verse

The poem is written in blank verse,
unrhymed iambic pentameter which lends the poem a natural feeling, almost
conversational.

Metaphor

The
poem has a controlling metaphor in which Flick is like the street of the first line.  He
was once a "Pearl," but because of missed opportunities, he also has been "stopped" and
"cut off" before having "a chance" to go further in
life.

All of the above-mentioned devices contribute to the
theme of the poem.  For, with the use of these poetic devices, John Updike captures
the poignancy of the misfortune of people who miss opportunities to capitalize upon
their talents.