Nabokov's "Good Readers and Good Writers" Rhetorical Devices

While I was reading "Good Readers and Good Writers" by Vladimir Nabokov, I noticed a few rhetorical devices. I found a total of one metaphor and three examples of personification. A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object that is does not literally denote in order to imply a resemblance. (Metaphor) Personification is giving human like characteristics to an inanimate object. The first metaphor I found was in the third paragraph, second sentence. It is "The is nothing wrong about the moonshine of generalization when it comes after the sunny trifles of the book have been lovingly collected. Nabokov is comparing the book to sunny trifles which are not alike at all. The first example of personification in his essay was on the third page. It said "Nature always deceives. " Nature cannot be deceiving because it is not a person, its an inanimate object. The next two examples were found on the very last page. "In gay Paree or in sad Russia" were the examples of personification. Paree is another name for Paris which is a place that does not have feelings, therefore it cannot be gay. Russia is also a place, which also means it cannot be sad.

"Metaphor | Define Metaphor at Dictionary.com." Dictionary.com | Find the Meanings and Definitions of Words at Dictionary.com. Web. 01 Aug. 2011.

Nabokov, Vladimir. "Good Readers and Good Writers." Lecture