Poetic Devices

Poetry uses language as its only tool to communicate meanings and emotions. It has to be intense. Therefore, poetry has to make the fullest use of language. It uses every aspect of language. The history of poetry has given some particular usages of language more significance than others. Listed below are mostly figures of speech.

Simile

Simile is the commonest figure of speech, to be found in all kinds of literary writings and everyday speech. The word “simile” reminds one of “similar,” and it is the neuter of the Greek word “similis,” meaning “like.” Simile is specific comparison between two essentially unlike things. Simile is aimed at illustrating, enhancing the meaning of one thing by means of another. A simile is often marked by the words “like” or “as.” This seemingly easy and frequently employed poetic devise, if used ingeniously, is capable of surprise e and poignancy. The opening stanza of T.S. Eliot's “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” contains two similes that have been widely noticed:

Let us go then, you and I,

When the evening is spread out against the sky

Like a patient etherised upon a table;

Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,

the muttering retreats

Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels

And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:

Streets that follow like a tedious argument

Of insidious intent

To lead you to an overwhelming question…

Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”

Let us go and make our visit.

“A patient etherised” and the “evening” are too far apart to be associated with each other in daily conversation. Simile Is not to detect the similarity, but to create the similarity. By likening “the evening” to “a patient etherised,” the poet intends to convey the paralyzed state of mind.

Simile does not only involve two whole things, but some part of the things as well. Coleridge compares the stillness of two ships in his “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”:

Day after day, day after day,

We struck, nor breath, nor motion;

As idle as a painted ship

Upon a painted ocean.

Sonnet 18 (By William Shakespeare)

A significant thing to consider here is that, at times simile is drawn without using the words “as” or “like.” Consider the following example:

“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate.

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimmed;

And every fair from fair sometime declines”

In the very first line, Shakespeare poses a question if he should compare his beloved to a summer’s day. But then he himself rejects this idea and says that his beloved is better than that. This This is an example of an extended simile. is an example of an extended simile.

Metaphor

Metaphor is so important in poetry that poetry has almost become the art of metaphor, as the Spanish essayist and philosopher José Ortega y Gasset says that "Poetry has become the higher algebra of metaphors.”

The French, Latin and Greek origins of the word all mean “transfer.” Metaphor is a figure of speech in which the quality of one is transferred onto another. It is also a comparison in nature, but the comparison is implicit whereas in a simile it is explicit. A simile juxtaposes two things while metaphor fuses the two. There are no indicators for metaphors. The sentence “Merry larks are ploughmen’s clocks contains a metaphor which transfers the timing function of the clock to the larks. Dickinson devises an unusual metaphor in the opening line of her poem # 1068: “Further in Summer than the Birds.” Here birds are used as if they were a point in the continuum of time, a phase of the seasonal cycle. Sometimes metaphors are subtle to detect. Francis Bacon writes the metaphor about books in his “Of Studies”: Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.”

Conceit

The word “conceit” originally means" concept or “idea, and later came to mean “fanciful idea.” It is in this sense that the word is used in discussion of poems. A conceit is a metaphor or simile that is made elaborate (far-fetched), often extravagant. Some would use the term to mean any fanciful poetic image. The difference between a conceit and a metaphor or simile is largely of degree. A metaphor or simile appeals mainly to the reader’s five senses and is easier to understand; a conceit appeals mainly to the reader’s intellect and so is difficult to comprehend. A conceit may strike the reader as weird at first glance, but proves appropriate in the end. The use of conceit is especially popular in the 17th century and the metaphysical poetry is characterized by conceits. A ready example would be the one from the poem “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” by John Donne, in which two lovers’ souls are compared to the legs of a compass.

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

By John Donne

As virtuous men pass mildly away,

And whisper to their souls to go,

Whilst some of their sad friends do say

The breath goes now, and some say, No:

So let us melt, and make no noise,

No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move;

'Twere profanation of our joys

To tell the laity our love.

Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears,

Men reckon what it did, and meant;

But trepidation of the spheres,

Though greater far, is innocent.

Dull sublunary lovers' love

(Whose soul is sense) cannot admit

Absence, because it doth remove

Those things which elemented it.

But we by a love so much refined,

That our selves know not what it is,

Inter-assured of the mind,

Care less, eyes, lips, and hands to miss.

Our two souls therefore, which are one,

Though I must go, endure not yet

A breach, but an expansion,

Like gold to airy thinness beat.

If they be two, they are two so

As stiff twin compasses are two;

Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show

To move, but doth, if the other do.

And though it in the center sit,

Yet when the other far doth roam,

It leans and hearkens after it,

And grows erect, as that comes home.

Such wilt thou be to me, who must,

Like th' other foot, obliquely run;

Thy firmness makes my circle just,

And makes me end where I begun.

Personification

The word “personify” means “make something appear like a human or a living being.” In literature, personification is a figure of speech in which inanimate objects or abstractions are given human qualities or are represented as possessing human form. Personification is found frequently in poetry as well as in fables. By transferring human qualities to the things otherwise without, the poet transfers human emotions as well. In fact, it is to express human emotions that the poet personifies. Verbs that denote particular human behavior are the frequent personifies. Robert Burn’s “My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer” personifies the “heart,” endowing it with the ability to chase. Lord Byron personifies the winds by assigning human emotions to them: “The night-winds sigh, the breakers roar, /And shrieks the wild sea-mew.” Epithets can also be used to personify inanimate or abstract things. Christina G. Rossetti writes in her “A Pause”:

Only my soul kept watch from day to day,

My thirsty soul kept watch for one away.

The adjective “thirsty” brings to the “soul” liveliness and makes it a personification. When a thing is addressed as if it were a person, it is personified. Personification of this kind is popular among poets of the past. John Donne writes “Death, thou shalt die” and Shelley asks the west wind, “make me thy lyre, even as the forest is.”

Function of Personification

Personification is not merely a decorative device, but serves the purpose of giving deeper meanings to literary texts. It adds vividness to expressions, as we always look at the world from a human perspective. Writers and poets rely on personification to bring inanimate things to life, so that their nature and actions are understood in a better way. Because it is easier for us to relate to something that is human, or which possesses human traits, its use encourages us to develop a perspective that is new as well as creative.

Symbol

A symbol is an index that points to or represents something else. A symbol is usually a material object used to represent something abstract. The relationship between the symbol and the symbolized is often established through convention, resemblance, or association. The red cross is not only a geometrical figure, but also a symbol of love of mankind and medical care. The sunrise not only constitutes an astronomical phenomenon, but also suggests a new beginning. The roads in Frost's poem stand for the life choices. choices. Actions and gestures can be symbols, too. Nodding means consent; shaking hands means welcome or reconciliation.

Extensive reading should enable the reader to recognize the conventional or public symbols such as those mentioned above. More often than not, the poet would devise his personal or private symbols which are to be recognized by intensive or close reading of the very poem in which they occur.

Paradox

“Paradox” comes from the Greek word “paradoxos,” meaning “conflicting with expectation.” A paradox may be a statement or situation that appears to be self-contradictory or contradictory to the common sense but is in fact valid or true. The statement “a well-known secret agent is paradoxical. Poets often use paradoxes to express some sophisticated ideas. John Keats writes in his “Ode on a Grecian Urn”:

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard

Are sweeter…

These two lines, by forming a paradox, reveal the human psychology that what one imagines is more desirable than what he has. Dickinson is a great paradoxer and she makes a paradox of life and death:

#1732

My life closed twice before its close—

It yet remains to see

If Immortality unveil

A third event to me

So huge, so hopeless to conceive

As these that twice befell.

Parting is all we know of heaven,

And all we need of hell.

The advantages of paradox, as shown above, are that it immediately arouses the reader's interest and that it is economical pointing out the connection between opposite sides in only a few words. Like conceit, paradox works on the intellectual level instead of the sensory one.

In literature, paradox is not just a clever or comical statement or use of words. Paradox has serious implications because it makes statements that often summarize the major themes of the work they are used in. Let us analyze some paradox examples from some famous literary works:

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet (By William Shakespeare’s)

“The earth that’s nature’s mother is her tomb;

What is her burying grave, that is Rainbow in her womb…”

The contradictory ideas of the earth being the birthplace and a graveyard make these lines paradoxical.

My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold (By William Wordsworth)

In his short lyric, William Wordsworth remembers the joys of his past and says: “The child is father of the man…”

This statement has a seemingly incorrect supposition, but when we look deep into its meaning, we see the truth. The poet is saying that the childhood experiences become the basis for all adult occurrences. The childhood of a person shapes his life, and consequently “fathers” or creates the grown-up adult. So, “The child is father of the man.”

Function of Paradox

“Why is paradox used when a message can be conveyed in a straightforward and simple manner?” The answer lies in the nature and purpose of literature. One function of literature is to make the readers enjoy reading. Readers enjoy more when they extract the hidden meanings out of the writing rather than something presented to them in an uncomplicated manner. Thus, the chief purpose of a paradox is to give pleasure.

In poetry, the use of paradox is not confined to mere wit and pleasure; rather, it becomes an integral part of poetic diction. Poets usually make use of paradox to create a remarkable thought or image out of words.

Some types of paradox in poetry are meant to communicate a tone of irony to its readers as well as lead their thoughts to the immediate subject. Paradox in most poems normally strives to create feelings of intrigue and interest in readers’ minds, to make them think deeper and harder to enjoy the real message of the poem.

Ambiguity

William Empson helped to turn this derogatory word into the appreciatory. Ambiguity refers to the state or situation in which more than one interpretation is possible. According to Empson, ambiguity is one of the very roots of poetry. Since poetry uses language that is ambiguous itself as its vehicle, poetry is often characterized by ambiguity. William Blake writes in “Introduction” of his “Songs of Innocence”:

And I pluck'd a hollow reed,

And I made a rural pen,

And I stain’d the water clear,

…

“I stain’d the water clear” may mean that the poet makes the water dirty (I stain'd the clear water), it may also mean that the poet makes the water clear (I stain'd the water in order to make it clear). Both interpretations are within the possibilities allowed by the syntax of the line. Even a single word without much aid of the syntax, is capable of ambiguity. In Paradise Lost Satan's heart “distends with pride” when he sees that the angels still follow him in rebelling against God. The word “pride” has two meanings which are both plausible here. It may be 4 pleasure or satisfaction taken in an achievement,” or arrogant or disdainful conduct/ attitude.”

Ambiguity, by fusing different interpretations in one word or situation, adds to the power of poetry.

Onomatopoeia

Poetry, stemming out of music and natural rhythm, relies on sound effects to a greater extent than do the novel and drama. Onomatopoeia refers to the formation or use of words that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to. For example, a donkey “heehaw,” a cat “mews” and bees “buzz.” Onomatopoeia, as a poetic device, is more than imitating individual sounds. Its idea is to echo the sense. To foreign ears, onomatopoeic devices are difficult to detect and appreciate. The following stanza from D.H. Lawrence's “Snake” is supposed to suggest the sinuous and slow movement of the reptile through the repeated [s] sound:

He reached down from a fissure in the earth-wall in the gloom

And trailed his yellow-brown slackness soft-bellied down, over

the edge of the stone trough

And rested his throat upon the stone bottom,

And where the water had dripped from the tap, in a small

clearness

He sipped with his straight mouth,

Softly drank through his straight gums, into his slack long body,

Silently.

Onomatopoeia and Phanopoeia

Onomatopoeia, in its more complicated use, takes the form of phanopoeia. Phanopoeia is a form of onomatopoeia that describes the sense of things, rather than their natural sounds. D. H. Lawrence, in his poem Snake, illustrates the use of this form:

“He reached down from a fissure in the earth-wall in the gloom

And trailed his yellow-brown slackness soft-bellied down, over the edge of the stone trough

And rested his throat upon the stone bottom,

And where the water had dripped from the tap, in a small clearness

He sipped with his straight mouth…”

The rhythm and length of the above lines, along with the use of “hissing” sounds, create a picture of a snake in the minds of the readers.

Function of onomatopoeia:

Generally, words are used to tell what is happening. Onomatopoeia, on the other hand, helps readers to hear the sounds of the words they reflect. Hence, the reader cannot help but enter the world created by the poet with the aid of these words. The beauty of onomatopoeic words lies in the fact that they are bound to have an effect on the readers’ senses, whether that effect is understood or not. Moreover, a simple plain expression does not have the same emphatic effect that conveys an idea powerfully to the readers. The use of onomatopoeic words helps create emphasis.