Literary Devices In Rita Dove's For The Love Of Books

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Recommended: Importance of reading to writers

Literary devices are the influential component of writing. A large number of writers use literary devices to create special effects in their writing pieces. Imagery, a popular literary device, causes readers to visualize a situation in their mind. Writers also exploit literary devices to support their thesis and purpose. For instance, in On The Mindless Menace of Violence, Robert F. Kennedy uses literary devices to draw attention to the effects of violence and encourage people to revolt against the scourge of violence. In For The Love of Books, Rita Dove employs literary devices to emphasize that her love of reading influenced her future career as a writer. Therefore, both Kennedy and Dove use distinctive literary devices to give particular …show more content…

In her essay, she demonstrates her affection in reading using hyperbole. Dove states, "In books, I can travel anywhere, be anybody, understand worlds long past and imaginary colonies in the past." (8) This definitely shows the benefit and the reason why she loves reading books. In reality, she is unable to travel anywhere and become anyone while she reads. However, the usage of hyperbole magnifies the advantages of it and let readers comprehend the reason why she loves reading with ease. In addition, Dove employs personal anecdote to substantiate that she highly value reading books from her earliest days. She says, "What I remember most about long summer days is browsing the bookshelves in our solarium to see if there were any additions." (8) She reveals her experience as an adolescent during her summer vacation. Her personal life experience of searching additional writing pieces in the bookshelves clearly represents that she was fascinated by reading since childhood. This usage of personal anecdote adds personal dimension in an essay and this causes readers to be amused with it and better understand the writer's point of view. Since Dove uses distinctive literary devices in demonstrating her affection in reading, readers can clearly appreciate its impact to her career as a

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