Can anyone tell me what this quote would fall under in terms of literary elements?

Asked by Ailia (1363

) November 28th, 2009

I am currently doing my homework and I came upon this quote in my book. I know it is some sort of literary element but I am at a lost as to what it is. Does anyone know what it is? It might even be more than just one but I am not sure.
Heres the quote “Each station should be like a beacon on the road towards better things, a centre for trade of course, but also for humanizing, improving, instructing.”

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Basically what I am asking about is whether this is a parallelism, asyndeton, or both. Just things like that.

Ailia (1363

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I would not quite call this parallelism because the clauses aren’t balanced, but I suspect it is an example of parataxis and asyndeton. I think it is also a prozeugma because the ‘should be’ applies to the successive clause ‘a centre for trade of course’.

And of course there is also the obvious simile in the first clause.

P.S. GQ for forcing me to review my dusty grammar glossary.

absalom (7552

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Simile for the first clause: ”..like a beacon…” Asyndeton for the last clause: “humanizing, improving, instructing.” The entire sentence can also be interpreted as running style.

Good luck with your homework! :)

madeinkowloon (392

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@absalom Thank you so much! @madeinkowloon And thank you too, you’ve both helped me loads. :)

Ailia (1363

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