What are some literary devices used in The Story of My Life by Helen Keller?
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There are multiple literary devices used in Helen Keller's biography, The Story of My Life.
On the opening page, actually, the second sentence, a simile can be found. A simile is the comparison between two (or more) normally dissimilar things using "like" or "as" to make the comparison.
I have, as it were, a superstitious hesitation in lifting the veil that clings about my childhood like a golden mist.
In this sentence, the lifted veil of Heller's childhood is compared to a golden mist.
While typically reserved for poetry, alliteration is also seen in the opening of Keller's book. Alliteration is the repetition of a consonant sound, typically found, within a line (of poetry).
I find that fact and fancy look alike across the years that link the past with the present.
Alliteration happens twice within the sentence above. Both the "f" sound in fact and fancy is repeated and the "p" sound in past and present is repeated.
One last example of a literary device found in Keller's novel is imagery. Imagery is the painting of a mental picture derived from the author's use of descriptive language.There are two sentences that provide the reader with rich details with which the reader can create a mental image of:
The woman paints the child's experiences in her own fantasy.
A few impressions stand out vividly from the first years of my life; but "the shadows of the prison-house are on the rest."
The choice of descriptive words in the pair of sentences (paints, fantasy, vividly, and shadows).
she used ethos and pathos.
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