• Simile:

Simile is a poetic device where two things are compared using the word “like” or “as”.

The poet has used this device in the following lines.

Like a chain hauled over a gunwale

Here, the poet is comparing the chain on a gunwale to the sounds of the typewriting keys.

• Personification:

Personification is a poetic device where animals, plants or even inanimate objects are given human qualities.

The poet has used this poetic device in the following lines.

The whole house seems to be thinking

Here, the house is personified.

• Metaphor:

Metaphor is a literary device where two unrelated objects are compared to each other.

The poet has used this device in the following lines.

Young as she is, the stuff

Of her life is a great cargo, and some of it heavy:

I wish her a lucky passage.

Throughout the poem, the poet is comparing his daughter to a sailor taking a journey on a ship.

• Anaphora:

Anaphora is a literary device that uses the repetition of short phrases or single words at the beginning of clauses or sentences to enhance rrhythm.

The poet has used this device in the following lines.

And retreated, not to affright it;

And how for a helpless hour, through the crack of the door,

The Writer Summary

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