Hi
@lforrest
Literary devices are an area of interest for me, particularly their use in the Bible. I list the definitions of
anthropomorphism, personification, and metaphor below so that their similarities can be noted, and that is exactly what their purpose is, to highlight similarities.
God has the power to create
some-things out of
no-things, and He does this by speaking them into existence. His Word is such that spiritual meanings are associated with material forms, and the one is understood by experience of the other.
As we know from Scripture, the natural man makes no allowance for things material to have a spiritual aspect, and remains ignorant of their association as a consequence.
Whilst we do not ascribe animation to objects that have no spirit, we do understand that in God's Hands such animation is possible, and that language can be used to create images of material things in order to communicate spiritual principles.
Pro 9:1-2 Wisdom has built her house, She has hewn out her seven pillars; (2) She has slaughtered her meat, She has mixed her wine, She has also furnished her table.
Three Major Literary Devices:
an·thro·po·mor·phism
(ăn′thrə-pə-môr′fĭz′əm)
n.
Attribution of human motivation, characteristics, or behavior to inanimate objects, animals, or natural phenomena.
an′thro·po·mor′phic adj.
an′thro·po·mor′phi·cal·ly adv.
an′thro·po·mor′phist n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
per·son·i·fi·ca·tion
(pər-sŏn′ə-fĭ-kā′shən)
n.
1. The act of personifying.
2. A person or thing typifying a certain quality or idea; an embodiment or exemplification: "He's invisible, a walking personification of the Negative" (Ralph Ellison).
3. A figure of speech in which inanimate objects or abstractions are endowed with human qualities or are represented as possessing human form, as in
Hunger sat shivering on the road or
Flowers danced about the lawn. Also called
prosopopeia.
4. Artistic representation of an abstract quality or idea as a person.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
met·a·phor
(mĕt′ə-fôr′, -fər)
n.
1. A figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate another, thus making an implicit comparison, as in
"a sea of troubles" or "All the world's a stage" (Shakespeare).
2. One thing conceived as representing another; a symbol: "Hollywood has always been an irresistible, prefabricated metaphor for the crass, the materialistic, the shallow, and the craven" (Neal Gabler).
[Middle English methaphor, from Old French metaphore, from Latin metaphora, from Greek,
transference, metaphor, from metapherein,
to transfer : meta-,
meta- + pherein,
to carry; see
bher- in
Indo-European roots.]
met′a·phor′ic (-fôr′ĭk),
met′a·phor′i·cal adj.
met′a·phor′i·cal·ly adv.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
