Use of Literary Devices - Julio Noboa

The poem "Identity", by Julio Noboa is about a plant in reality being a person, choosing a path with less popularity and fame, to the privilege of living life without having a two sided personality. The author states that he would rather be a weed because he would, "feel exposed to the madness of the vast, eternal sky" and not "be harnessed to a pot of dirt". Through the use of Julio Noboa's literary devices like sight, allegory, and feel he compares the flower inferior to the weed. The effective use of literary devices aided the understanding, overall purpose, and theme of the poem.

"The eyes can be deceiving" or sight, is a strategy Julio Noboa used to make the weed seem superior to the flower. For example, "Let them be as flowers, always watered, fed, guarded, admired..." refers the plant as being pampered. Even though it appears to be beautiful, the flower has limited freedom. The reader can tell the flower has limitations in the next stanza, "but harnessed to a pot of dirt". Visualizing,"but harnessed to a pot of dirt" makes the reader feel trapped and unable to express his/her feelings. "To feel exposed to the madness of the vast, eternal sky" makes the reader want to enjoy the excitement of freedom. For instance, "to feel exposed to the madness" and clinging on cliffs"" attracts the positive details and motivations of why a weed would be superior.

Effectively using allegory adds to the understanding of a piece of literature. For example, if the first clause or section was to switch order with the second clause the allegory wouldn't make any sense. Furthermore, allegory added strength to the significance of being a weed. For example, the pot in the third stanza means limited freedom, but "the vast, eternal sky" means freedom. So the allegory was effective in the poem, but when it was used correctly. The author used allegory to make the flower seem weak, but to make the weed seem strong. This is supported when the author calls the weed "stand alone, strong and free", but to the flower "water, fed, guarded".

Finally, sensation of feel and touch was the best device you to compare the plants. One can see the beautiful flower growth stop to the limited size of a pot. This can be compared to a bird extending its wing to fly. If the bird were to be in the pot it would live it entire life on the nest. Yet the weed would be "clinging on cliffs, like an eagle wind-wavering above high, jagged rocks..." The stanza consists of the feeling of living life to the fullest excitement. Stanza number nineteen, "If I could stand alone, strong and free" gives the reader a feeling of pride, while the flower is hopeless and naïve. For example, in clause four it describes that the flower won't reject any aid and just grow to be a pleasant-smelling flower not