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Use Of Literary Elements In Stephen King's On Writing

Decent Essays

Authors use literary elements and techniques as tools to convey meaning. These devices are the means by which authors bring richness and clarity to a text. They express moods or feelings that allow the reader to connect with the writing. In On Writing, the author, Stephen King makes use of literary elements to tell his story. The techniques King uses are effective in portraying vivid images and feelings in the reader’s mind. One example in which King uses such elements is early in the book. King writes, “Mary Karr presents her childhood in an almost unbroken panorama. Mine is a fogged-out landscape from which occasional memories appear like isolated trees …. the kind that look as if they might like to grab and eat you”(17). In the first sentence, King is describing the delightful grasp Mary Karr has on her childhood. He depicts her memory as an “unbroken panorama” which creates the image of a beautiful, wide view. The figurative language here is successful in expressing the totality of Mary Karr’s memoir, which King uses to differentiate his memory with. Next, he describes his memory as a “fogged-out landscape”, which conveys that his recollections are hazy and disjointed. King mentions earlier that he lived an odd, “herky-jerky” childhood, and moved around a lot in his earliest years. The figurative language he uses is an another way of making this clear in the reader’s mind. Then, King uses the simile, “like isolated trees” to illustrate a barren image, which enforces

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