Literary Devices For Research Paper

The unknown author of this very detailed paragraph uses many different things to make sleeping in a church go from normal, and maybe even comforting, to terrifying and unsettling. The author uses many different literary devices, punctuation, and diction choices throughout the paragraph to do so. All of these different techniques make the style of this writing very unique and makes the overall mood more dramatic. The author uses all these things to show us how sleeping overnight in a church is terrifying. There are a lot of literary devices you can see being used during this paragraph; for example, personification and comparison. You can see personification when the wind is being talked about as if it was a person. The text states, “For the
night-wind has a dismal trick of wandering round and round a building of that sort, and moaning as it goes; and of trying, with its unseen hand, the windows and the doors; and seeking out some crevices by which to enter”. The author uses words like wandering around, moaning, seeking out crevices, to make the wind seem almost human-like. This not only makes the paragraph more interesting to read, but makes the spooky feeling start in just the first sentence.
Another literary device I saw being used was comparison, which was done multiple times. In the sentence I referenced above the wind is being compared to a ghost or a human-like figure. Not only that though, because later in the paragraph you can see the wind is compared to something demon or devil like. The paragraph stated, “It has a ghostly sound too, lingering within the altar; where it seems to chaunt, in its wild way, of Wrong and Murder done, and false Gods worshipped, in defiance of the Tables of the Law, which look so fair and smooth, but are so flawed and broken”. The author is pointing out all the negative aspects of the church, which only seem to come out at night. This is another thing that adds to the scary part of the paragraph, the way the author compares the wind to this just adds another different mood to the paragraph. Despite how important the literacy devices that are being used are, I think the thing that affects this paragraph the most is its denotation and punctuation. This is not only what makes the paragraph stand out, but also gives hints to the time period of which it was
written. I came across many interesting words that forced me to stop and wonder… Would anyone from this current time period really use this same vocabulary? Words like dismal, lamenting, chaunt, are only a few. These words make me think that this paragraph was written a long time ago, and that really helps us understand the writing. If we know what time period it was (I want to go with anytime from 1800-1900) it can help us understand more about the text. But, since we need more evidence before knowing the time period, we can also look at the punctuation being used. The sentences used in this paragraph are very long and are filled with commas and semi-collins. These give us an obvious hint that the time period is older. Not only does this help us with the time period, it makes the paragraph more detailed and scarier. The long sentences get you anxious and at the end of your chair as you read, and the punctuation makes the sentences have many pauses. These pauses contribute to the overall mood by making it a slower read and making it more spooky. The complex sentences not only make the writing more interesting and colorful, but also eerie. This paragraph uses many different things to show why staying overnight in a church is so terrifying, and those are my reasons for why I think so.