Describe the poetic device used in …

There are several literary devices used in the poem "An Elementary School in the Slum" including alliteration, simile, metaphor, imagery, synecdoche, and irony.

Simile is the comparison of the two things using the words 'like' or 'as.' In the first stanza, "Like rootless weeds" is the example of a smile where the students are compared to the unwanted plants. "Sour cream walls," "like bottle bits on stones,"

Metaphor is the comparison of two very different things and here only one thing lies in common. The example of a metaphor is "paper seeming boy" when the poet compares one of the boys to resemble much like a paper. "Rat's eyes," "map," "sealed with a lead sky," "cramped holes," "endless night," and "white and green leaves."

Alliteration is the repetition of the same consonant sound. "From Fog" is an example of the use of alliteration.