Devices in details

Alliteration The repetition of consonant sounds, especially at the beginning of words. Example: "Fetched fresh, as I suppose, off some sweet wood." Hopkins, "In the Valley of the Elwyn." Assonance The repetition of similar vowel sounds in a sentence or a line of poetry or prose, as in "I rose and told him of my woe." Whit man's "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer" contains assonant "I's" in the following lines: "How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick, / Till rising and gliding out I wandered off by myself." Climax The turning point of the action in the plot of a play or story. The climax represents the point of greatest tension in the work. The climax of John Updike's "A&P," for example, occurs when Sammy quits his job as a cashier Characterization The means by which writers present and reveal character. Although techniques of characterization are complex, writers typically reveal characters through their speech, dress, manner, and actions. Readers come to understand the character Miss Emily in Faulkner's story "A Rose for Emily" through what she says, how she lives, and what she does.

Poetic Dvices

Alliteration - The repetition of initial consonant sounds.

Assonance - The repetition of vowel sounds.

Imagery - Words or phrases that appeal to any sense or any combination of senses.

Metaphor - A comparison between two objects with the intent of giving clearer meaning to one of them. Often forms of the "to be" verb are used, such as "is" or "was", to make the comparison.

Meter - The recurrence of a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Onomatopoeia - The use of words which imitate sound.

Personification - A figure of speech which endows inanimate objects with human traits or abilities.

Point-of-view - The author's point-of-view concentrates on the vantage point of the speaker, or "teller", of the story or poem.

• 1st person: the speaker is a character in the story or poem and tells it from his/her perspective (uses "I")
• 3rd person limited: the speaker is not part of the story, but tells about the other characters but limits information about what one character sees and feels.
• 3rd person omnivorousness speaker is not part of the story, but is able to "know" and describe what all characters are thinking.

Repetition - the repeating of words, phrases, lines, or stanzas.

Rhyme - The similarity of ending sounds existing between two words.

Rhyme scheme - The sequence in which the rhyme occurs. The first end sound is represented as the letter "a", the second is "b", etc.

Simile - A comparison between two objects using a specific word or comparison such as "like", "as", or "than". 

Stanza - a grouping of two or more lines of a poem in terms of length, metrical form, or rhyme scheme. 

Jean Arasanayagam

Jean Arasanayagam was a Srilankan and reputed as one of the contemporary leading poets in Srilanka who writes in English. She is the author of several published volumes of poetry written by her. In 1984, she won the national awards for non-fiction literature.She is a Burgher by birth but married to a Tamil.Because of this marriage she had to suffer enormously during the racial violence.She tried to convey information about Tamil community in Srilanka. Therefore her poetry was extended with a widespread recognition.

                                                                    " Wedding Photographs" is an ideal reflection out of her poetry because it brings a wide description about the cultural patterns, rituals and traditions of the Tamil community in Srilanka.some of her poetry has been written while she was in a refugee camp.It appears that some of her poetry is biased.