Literary Devices: “Digging”, “the Writer”, and “Harlem”

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After reading and discussing the the poems Harlem, Digging, and The Writer in class I have comprehended the literary devices. In all of the poem the first and last stanzas changes from metaphors, similes, and symbols. This use of literary devices grabs the reader’s attention and and tie up the poems. In the first poem Digging it begins the poem with similes and concludes the poem using symbol. When the poem shifts from one idea to the next towards the end of the poem it provides a stronger meaning for the reader to understand. For example when the author uses the squat pen resting. If these words were not included in the poem the inference of what this poem is about could alter. In the second poem The Writer it uses metaphor to start the poem and symbol to end it. Throughout the first half of the poem the author metaphors to relate to his daughter and then suddenly switches over to symbols of the bird. His metaphors create a clear passage of understanding but when the bird comes in, he leaves it in the mind of the reader to produce their own explanation. In the Third poem Harlem by Langston Hughes utilizes similes and finishes the poem with a metaphor. Since majority of the poem consist of smilies it creates a pattern, allowing the reader to fill in the missing parts with their own imagination. When it comes to the last line of the poem and the smilie transfers into a metaphor when talking about an explosion of a dream, there is no further connection to it. It is a question that is left unanswered and waiting to be interpreted by the reader. In my opinion I find it interesting that when the writer uses these literary devices they can create generate a story with no conclusion or a question with no correct answer, but what the reader can

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