Question

What are the poetic devices that have been used in the poem 'Television' by Roald Dahl.

Answer 1

Apostrophe: This rhetorical device is used when a poet addresses his or her poem to an absent audience. Dahl uses the device of apostrophe when he addresses his poem to English parents and advises them on doing away with their television sets.

AND

Personification: This rhetorical device is used to give human qualities to something that is incapable of human actions. Dahl uses the device of personification in two cases – first, when he gives television the human ability to kill something, and second, when he gives ‘Imagination’ the human ability to die at its hands.

Answer 2

Answer:

Capitalization is the primary literary device employed to draw attention to the negative effects of television. In addition, the standard forms like simile ("becomes as soft as cheese"), metaphor ("Until they're extremely intoxicated"), and alliteration ("The Camel Got His Hump") have also been utilised.

Explanation:

Poetic devices used in the poem, “Television” are:

1. Simile: Use the words "as" or "like" to compare directly two different things. For instance, the poet writes in the poem, "HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE," that children's minds are like cheese.
2. Metaphor: is employed to contrast two amorphous concepts. For instance, when the poet writes, "Until they're utterly inebriated," he is comparing young infants to those who are drunken.
3. Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in words close to or near each other. Alliteration, for instance, appears when "And pirates wore purple pants" in the poem.
4. The poet uses consonance, a larger kind of alliteration when he repeats the letters "L" and "D" in the line "It makes a youngster so dull and blind."
5. Assonance: This is a vowel sound that is repeated. The I is repeated, for instance, in the line "And in its place, you can install."
6. Hyperbole is an exaggerated simile that is used to describe an object. The poem's line "A dozen eyeballs on the floor" exaggerates the negative impacts of television.