In this adapted excerpt from James Joyce's short story "Araby," what literary device does the author use to describe the scene? We walked through the flaring streets, jostled by loud men and bargaining women, amid the shrill litanies of shop-boys who stood on guard by the barrels of food, the nasal chanting of street-singers, who sang a come-all-you about O'Donovan Rossa, or a ballad about the troubles in our native land.