My newly found commitment for writing came hand in hand with getting back in touch with my God, reading my Bible, going to church and all the other things that spirituality involves.
I read a thread on twitter the other day which beautifully outlined some examples of literary devices used by Taylor swift in her songs.
Well, that was really an eye opener.
And I’ve been reading my Bible with an improved knowledge of literary devices. So I keep seeing a lot of things I never saw before.
Maybe in the past I just wanted to get a word or some lesson for the day but now I revel in the skillfulness of this great book.
Skillful writing is deliberate.
Taylor Swift deserves her flowers, I have a lot of work to do and the Bible is one great book! To think that the Bible wasn’t originally written in English, I can’t help but admire the work that has gone into its translation.
So without much ado, I’ll be sharing three literary devices I recently came across in the Bible.
“Your two breasts are like two fawns,
Twins of a gazelle
Which feed among the lilies.
These lines are taken from Songs of Solomon 4:5
I think you can guess the device used here.
The most important widely used of them all.
METAPHOR: ‘a comparison that directly relates one thing to another unrelated thing.’
You’ll find a lot of metaphoric expressions in Songs of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, Psalms and Proverbs. I chose this one for today.
“With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.”
Quoted from 2 Peter 3:8
I wasn’t quite sure of this is antimetabole or not. But I feel like it is, if you think it fits another literary device better, do let us know in the comments.
ANTIMETABOLE: ‘the repetition of words in successive clauses in transposed order.’
“What, O my son?
And what, O son of my womb?
And what, O son of my vows?”
“It is not for kings, O Lemuel
It is not for kings to drink wine..”
~Proverbs 31
REPETITION — for emphasis
Repetition is a literary device that involves using the same word or phrase again and again in writing.
“A time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and
a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate;
a time of war, and a time of peace.”
In the above excerpt from Ecclesiastes, we see the use of anaphora.
ANAPHORA is said to be the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.
That’s it for today! Thanks for reading 🙏🏽
