Panachai Dithapan (Job) 1107 1

In the past, women was not allowed to read books. Most women had to stay at home

and do only house work while men got to study which is unfair. They were criticized on

what they can do for the community since they must only belong to the house. Books are

door-shaped visualizes a woman whose mother believes that woman are prohibited from

book and prevents her from reading books, so she creates her own story. Books Are Door-

shaped from a book called “The Lighting Dreamer” by Margarita Engle who uses metaphor

and hyperbole in the poem to compare things and amplify ideas

One of the poetic devices Engle uses is metaphor. One stanza that shows metaphor is

the first stanza, “Books are door-shaped portals carrying me across oceans and centuries”.

Books represent doors to anywhere and anytime. Another place that shows metaphor is the

fifth stanza, “I step through its magical door-shape”. Magical door shape serve as the ability

to walk away from the life she does not want to have, which means she wants to escape

from reality. And from the last stanza, “Many of the heroes are men and boys, but some are

girls so tall strong and clever that they rescue other children from monster”. This shows

metaphor because characters such as heroes, villain, monsters are not real. Heroes cannot

actually physically save anyone. Engle also call people and problems monsters. Engle uses

metaphor to tell the story and makes the story more interesting.

Another poetic device Engle uses is Hyperbole shown throughout the poem.

Hyperbole, derived from a Greek word meaning “over-casting,” is a device that involves an

exaggeration of ideas. In the first stanza, “Books are door-shaped portals carrying me across

oceans and centuries”. Books only provide the information from everywhere. They cannot
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actually transport people or affect anything physical. This makes readers feel that books are

powerful. Another place that shows hyperbole is the fifth stanza, “Secretly, I open an

invisible book in my mind” as she has no invisible book in her mind. It is just her

imagination. Engle uses hyperbole in this to make imagination tangible. And the last place

that shows hyperbole is the sixth stanza, “Many of the heroes are men and boys, but some

are girls so tall strong and clever”. Heroes are just a good people who solve problems. They

are not really tall, strong, and clever but they are good. This shows that good people are

deserved to be called heroes.

The theme of Books Are Door-shaped is imagination is very important. One stanza

that shows this theme is the forth stanza, “I imagine distant time and faraway places.

Ghosts. Vampires. Ancient warriors. Fantasy moves into the tangled maze of lonely

confusion”. This shows the theme because she are restricted to read books so she has to

imagine things to create her own story. Another place in the story that supports this theme is

the fifth stanza, “Secretly, I open an invisible book in my mind”. In this scene, the theme is

shown because she imagines her own story and creates her own universe in her mind. As

you can see, she is not allowed to read books, so she imagine her own story to escape from

reality. Imagination plays an important role in this poem.

Margarita Engle uses metaphor in Book Are Door-shaped to compare things that can

imply the character action and thought and hyperbole to amplify ideas. she can tell the story

comprehensibly by using these poetic devices. She demonstrated how the literary devices

help her to express her thought as a woman and as a writer.

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