Recently, I had learnt the meanings of twenty-five new literally devices in my Literature lessons. They are categorised under three groups called the Imagery and Figurative Language, Sound Devices, and Diction and Sentence Structures.
In Imagery and Figurative Language category, it consists of the 'Simile' , 'Metaphor' , 'Personification' , 'Symbol' , 'Visual' , 'Auditory' , 'Olfactory' , 'Gustatory' , Kinesthetic' and 'Tactile' , which are basically used to describe objects and humans such as using our five senses, and to compare things. In Sound Devices category, it consists of 'Rhyme' , 'Rhythm' , 'Alliteration' , 'Onomatopoeia' and 'Tone' , which are basically used to show one's expressions and feelings by making use of the sounds, such as having stresses or repetition of consonant sounds. While in the Diction and Sentence Structures category, it consists of 'Connotation' , 'Oxymoron' , 'Hyperbole' , 'Paradox' , 'Simple Sentence' , 'Complex Sentence' , 'Incomplete Sentence' , 'Exclamation' , 'Rhetorical Question' and 'Repetition' , which are commonly used in sentencing to express one's feelings.
Among all these literally devices, my favourite device is 'Rhetorical Question' . Unlike the questions we normally ask everyday, 'Rhetorical Question' is a question which is not asked to request information or a reply, but to achieve an expression tone different from a direct question. For instance, mothers will always ask their children this question :" How many times do i have to tell you to clean up your room ?" In such situation, children cannot possibly answer their mother :" Ten times ." . Hence, this is why i like this device as it is very special and unique.
Personally, i feel that learning these literally devices is very important, as they are closely related to how we answer our Unseen Text questions. Like i had mentioned previously in Learning Log 5, taking note of our feelings and emotions are vital when reading an Unseen Text. Therefore, by identifying these literally devices which created feelings and emotions on the text, can help us to better understand and answer the Unseen Text questions.
Different Literally Devices create different effects on the text and readers. This enables us to get what the text is trying to convey to us more easily. For example, in this sentence :" This was because Mui Mui, aged eight and perpetually sick and whining like a kitten, was a source of irritation to the father." , 'Simile' which is the comparison between two distinctly different things, indicated by the use of 'like' and 'as' , is used. The 'Simile' :"Whining like a kitten" , makes us feel that the character has a small physique and dependent nature. This comparison also suggests that the character's persistence in seeking the attention she needs , is just like a kitten seeking attention from its mother. From this example, we can see that, just merely using a literally device can bring the characters in the text to live and enable us to picture the scene in the text.
In conclusion, i feel that it is very beneficial for us to learn the meanings of these twenty-five literally devices, as they helped us to understand the text and answer the questions better. Also, to discover our feelings and emotions more easily. However, i hope that my Literature Teacher can gives us more practices on the commenting of the text using the literally devices as i am still not confident in doing the comments on my own. Lastly, i wish that i will have a chance to use these literally devices i had learnt in my English compositions too !