Italo Calvino's essay does not rely on the use of many rhetorical devices to beautify his work. While this can make some pieces of literature shine, Calvino relies more heavily on the content of his essay than metaphors or hyperboles to catch the interest of his readers.
Instead he makes use of just one device that makes for a critical component to this piece. This device is personification. Calvino makes one personification that he develops throughout the entire piece, which is the classic novel personified as an individual that can become one’s best friend if we allow it to. Calvino explains to us throughout the essay that once we find that one work of literature that we can call ‘our classic’, it will develop a relationship with us similar to that of a close friend. We know that we have this sort of a relationship with a book if we keep returning to it and find that it relates to our lives perfectly. As Calvino himself states in his essay, “a classic is a book which with each rereading offers as much of a sense of discovery as the first reading.”
Calvino, Italo. "Why Read the Classics?" Why Read the Classics? London: Vintage, 2000. 5-8. Print.
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