Question

Identify the literary devices in the following sentences. 1. 'The men at the windows had not yet swooped into the Hall, like birds of prey from their high perches.' 2. 'Every green leaf, every blade of grass and blade of grain, was as shrivelled and poor as the miserable people.'

Answer 1

The literary device used in both the sentences is a simile. A simile is used to compare two elements, things, beings and so on.

1. In the first sentence, the men are compared to birds of prey. The idea of the men zeroing in onto their victims is compared to birds (like vultures) attacking their prey. The word 'like' indicates a simile.

2. In the second sentence, each leaf and blade of grass and grain are compared to miserable people. The comparison is drawn between the condition of the leaf, blade of grass and grain and miserable people, which is 'shrivelled and poor'. The word 'as' suggests a simile.

Similes add richness to the text through the images they create. Therefore, they add to imagery too.

Answer 2

LITERARY DEVICES

Answer :-

The literary devices used in the given sentences is Simile. Let us learn about this literary device and how one can identify this literary device.

• Simile is a figure of speech in which one thing is compared to the other by using 'like' or 'as'.

• The easy way to identify whether the literary device used in the sentence is simile is to see if the comparison is made between two things or people by using 'like' or 'as'.

Given sentences :-

1. The men at the windows had not yet swooped into the Hall, like birds of prey from their high perches. Here we can see that men have been compared with the birds by using 'like'.
2. Every green leaf, every blade of grass and blade of grain, was as shrivelled and poor as the miserable people. Here we can see that, the green leaf, the blade of grass, and the blade of grain have been compared with the shrivelled and poor condition of the miserable people by using 'as'.

One thing to keep in mind is that another literary device used for comparison is 'Metaphor.' The only difference between a metaphor and a simile is that, the terms 'like' and 'as' for comparisons are only used in simile and not in metaphor. In metaphor there is a direct comparison without using any such terms.

Examples to understand the both :-

• Simile - She is as kind as an angel.
• Metaphor - She is an angel.