CLASS 12 POETIC DEVICES
FLAMINGO
Prose 1. The Last Lesson
As quiet as Sunday morning – Simile
As fast as I could-simile
Up and down – Antithesis
Terrible iron ruler – Transferred Epithet
School seemed so strange – Sibilance & Metonymy
Thunderclap – Metaphor
Wretches – Metaphor
Old friends – Metaphor
And, without one mistake? – Rhetorical question
Alsace, she puts off – Personification
Onomatopoeia:
Bah
Cooed
Ah
You are not the worst – Litotes
Language is the key – Metaphor
Almost as if the poor – Simile
So easy, so easy – Repetition
Put it all into our heads – Synecdoche
Like little flags – Simile
Fish-hooks, as if that was French – Simile
Will they make them sing in German, even the pigeons? – Rhetorical Question
School is dismissed – Synecdoche
Prose 2. Lost Spring
Lost spring – Metaphor
Many storms that swept- Metaphor
Gold in garbage dumps – Hyperbole
Promises like mine – Simile
His bleak world - Transferred Epithet
Lord of the universe – Irony
An army of barefoot boys – Metaphor
Garbage to them is gold – Hyperbole
Like the morning birds – Simile
Air of desolation – Metaphor
Young boys like the son of the priest … remain shoeless. – Antithesis
Like the son of the priest – Simile
Like the rag-pickers – Simile
Seemapuri, a place on the periphery of Delhi yet miles away from it – Antithesis
Transit homes – Transferred Epithet
, Rag-picking has acquired … of fine art. – Hyperbole
Garbage is their daily bread, a roof over their heads – Metaphor
Even shoes with a hole is a dream – Metaphor
Like a mirage – Simile
Can a god-given lineage even be broken? – Rhetorical Question
Like the tongs – Simile
Suhaag – Symbolism
Their fathers are as hard as they are – Simile
The baggage of the child – Metaphor
Few airplanes fly over Firozabad – Pun
Choked with garbage – Personification
Sizzling spinach leaves – Onomatopoeia
Bangles- sunny gold… lie in mounds in unkempt yards – Irony
Circle of bangles – Symbolism & Paradox
Like the old woman – Simile
She still has bangles on wrist, but no light in her eyes – Irony
They talk endlessly – Paradox
Web of poverty – Metaphor
Few airplanes fly over Firozabad – Pun
Prose 3. Deep Water
Simile :
Nine feet were like ninety
Like a cork
I reached up as if to grab a rope
As dead weights
As in one nightmare fights
Like a great charge of electricity
Tender arms like Mother’s
I went down, down, endlessly – Repetition, hyperbole
Yellow glow dark – Antithesis
Personification:
The water heard me
Stark terror seized me
Water held me
Terror that knows no understanding
Terror that knows no control
Blackness wiped out fear and terror
Icy terror would grab my heart
Haunting fear of the water followed me
Bit of the panic seized me
Deep water – Metaphor
To float along in space – Metaphor
Curtain of life – Metaphor
FLAMINGO
Prose 1. The Last Lesson
As quiet as Sunday morning – Simile
As fast as I could-simile
Up and down – Antithesis
Terrible iron ruler – Transferred Epithet
School seemed so strange – Sibilance & Metonymy
Thunderclap – Metaphor
Wretches – Metaphor
Old friends – Metaphor
And, without one mistake? – Rhetorical question
Alsace, she puts off – Personification
Onomatopoeia:
Bah
Cooed
Ah
You are not the worst – Litotes
Language is the key – Metaphor
Almost as if the poor – Simile
So easy, so easy – Repetition
Put it all into our heads – Synecdoche
Like little flags – Simile
Fish-hooks, as if that was French – Simile
Will they make them sing in German, even the pigeons? – Rhetorical Question
School is dismissed – Synecdoche
Prose 2. Lost Spring
Lost spring – Metaphor
Many storms that swept- Metaphor
Gold in garbage dumps – Hyperbole
Promises like mine – Simile
His bleak world - Transferred Epithet
Lord of the universe – Irony
An army of barefoot boys – Metaphor
Garbage to them is gold – Hyperbole
Like the morning birds – Simile
Air of desolation – Metaphor
Young boys like the son of the priest … remain shoeless. – Antithesis
Like the son of the priest – Simile
Like the rag-pickers – Simile
Seemapuri, a place on the periphery of Delhi yet miles away from it – Antithesis
Transit homes – Transferred Epithet
, Rag-picking has acquired … of fine art. – Hyperbole
Garbage is their daily bread, a roof over their heads – Metaphor
Even shoes with a hole is a dream – Metaphor
Like a mirage – Simile
Can a god-given lineage even be broken? – Rhetorical Question
Like the tongs – Simile
Suhaag – Symbolism
Their fathers are as hard as they are – Simile
The baggage of the child – Metaphor
Few airplanes fly over Firozabad – Pun
Choked with garbage – Personification
Sizzling spinach leaves – Onomatopoeia
Bangles- sunny gold… lie in mounds in unkempt yards – Irony
Circle of bangles – Symbolism & Paradox
Like the old woman – Simile
She still has bangles on wrist, but no light in her eyes – Irony
They talk endlessly – Paradox
Web of poverty – Metaphor
Few airplanes fly over Firozabad – Pun
Prose 3. Deep Water
Simile :
Nine feet were like ninety
Like a cork
I reached up as if to grab a rope
As dead weights
As in one nightmare fights
Like a great charge of electricity
Tender arms like Mother’s
I went down, down, endlessly – Repetition, hyperbole
Yellow glow dark – Antithesis
Personification:
The water heard me
Stark terror seized me
Water held me
Terror that knows no understanding
Terror that knows no control
Blackness wiped out fear and terror
Icy terror would grab my heart
Haunting fear of the water followed me
Bit of the panic seized me
Deep water – Metaphor
To float along in space – Metaphor
Curtain of life – Metaphor
