The literary techniques used in the short poem "First Lesson" and the short story
"Charles" are very different. Some of the literary techniques that were used were irony,
characterization. Although the literary techniques are different the themes are strikingly similar.
The theme of the story and the poem is, parents worrying about their children. The theme also
expresses that parents tend to have trouble letting go of their child's childhood.
In "First Lesson", metaphors and similes are used to express the theme of the poem.
"They are dragon-seekers, bent on impossible rescues", this quote is a metaphor because it is
comparing two dissimilar things, fathers and dragon-seekers. The quote says that fathers are bent
on looking out for problems that might cross the path of their daughters, therefore, they are
worried for them. "Like your first shoes with heels on, like your first bicycle, it took such months
to get.", this quote is a simile because it is comparing two dissimilar things, fathers getting used
to their changing daughters and heels and bicycles, using the word "like". It is also expressing
the theme because the quote is saying that it is going to take fathers a while to adapt to the
change and it is going to take months for it to happen. "Scratch any father, you find someone
chock-full of qualms and romantic terrors", this quote is using personification. It is stating that
fathers embody the things that it lists and it says that for all of them. All in all, the literary
techniques employed in First Lesson do not parallel to those used in "Charles".
In "Charles" imagery, irony, and similes are used to express the theme. "I watched him
go off the first morning with the older girl next door seeing clearly that an era of my life was
ended, my sweet-voiced nursery-school tot replaced by a...