Introduction
Literary devices are essential aspects and elements of any poem, and thus, to properly understand their uses, it is important to analyze one of the most well-known works. The given assessment will primarily focus on three pieces of poetry, which are “Mending Wall” by Robert Frost, “Death Be Not Proud” by John Donne, “Wild Nights” by Emily Dickinson. The literary devices used in these works are imagery, assonance, irony, metaphor, enjambment, and symbolism.
“Mending Wall”
The poem “Mending Wall” by Robert Frost uses a wide range of literary devices, but the most prominent among them are imagery and assonance. Imagery can be seen in several lines, such as, for example: “Not of woods only and the shade of trees” (Kennedy et al. 629).
Another example of imagery is the line where the author writes: “And some are loaves and some so nearly balls” (Kennedy et al. 628). In the first case, the writer invokes the image of forest and trees, whereas the latter example compares boulders to spherical objects or objects, which have a similar shape to a piece of bread. The second literary device is assonance, where an author repeats one vowel sound repetitively in a line or several lines. The example can be seen when the poet writes: “To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean, no one has seen them made or heard them made” (Kennedy et al. 628). In other words, these lines include assonance because the sound of the letter “e” is repetitively used.
The given literary devices help the poet add visual details to the thoughts because a reader can understand that a wall is built from building blocks, which are different in size and shape. In addition, assonance greatly improves the overall melodic aspect and rhythm of the poem, which makes the reading process more engaging and appealing. There is no specific audience of the poem since the invoked themes and messages can be applied to anyone.
The key theme of the poem is centered around the notion of boundaries, where, for example, neighbors, who respect each other’s boundaries, are more likely to live in harmony without any problems. The author illuminates how the two neighbors gather each year to rebuild the wall that separates their territories, which ensures that they spend the rest of the year in mutual respect and admiration rather than fights and arguments.
“Death Be Not Proud”
The second poem is “Death Be Not Proud” by John Donne, which uses two distinct literary devices, such as irony and metaphor. The first literary device is irony, which can be observed when the poet writes: “Death, thou shalt die” (Kennedy et al. 623). In other words, the author uses a concept of death and proclaims that it is dead, which is an ironic expression since the notion of death signifies the process of dying. Such an approach is utilized to make the contextual meaning drastically different from the literal meaning. The second literary device is a metaphor, which can be seen when the author writes: “Death, be not proud” (Kennedy et al. 623).
The given phrase comes in the first line, and it metaphorically compares the notion of death to a proud individual, which shows that it has no literal meaning but rather a comparative one. The phrase addresses the concept of death as if it were a person, and thus, the poet personifies death to set the specific target of the writing.
The literary devices greatly improve the poem because irony brings a certain form of humor to the ending, and metaphor makes the reading process more engaging and imaginative since it is easier for a reader to imagine death as a person rather than an unclear concept. The audience of the poem can include any person, but it is primarily written for Christian and religious individuals, who might fear and worry about death. The poet strongly and logically argues about death, which is a key theme of the writing. The message revolves around the notion that death is not an end but rather a phase of rest before the journey ahead. In other words, the theme indicates that the poet reminds the religious people about the afterlife, where death is a mere transition.
“Wild Nights”
The third poem is “Wild Nights” by Emily Dickinson, which mainly utilizes literary devices, such as symbolism and enjambment. The former can be read in a line, which states: “Ah – the Sea!” (Kennedy et al. 621). It is an example of symbolism because the sea symbolizes love in its largest and expansive manifestation, where there are no conditions and boundaries. The second literary device is enjambment, which can be found in the very first stanza, where the poet writes: “Were I with thee Wild nights should be Our luxury!” (Kennedy et al. 621). It is an instance of enjambment due to the fact that the verse does not end at the line break, which means that it continues the thought in the following lines, where they form a unified stream of ideas.
The given literary devices provide a major improvement to the entire poem by making it fluent and symbolic. In the case of the latter, a reader can easily associate certain elements with sophisticated concepts, which makes the writing compact and multifaceted. In addition, enjambment allows the first stanza to preserve its structural appeal of containing four lines without compromising the overall idea behind lines two, three, and four. The audience consists of passionate and driven individuals, who are mainly younger adults. The key themes of the writing are imagination, fulfillment, and love, which are delivered in a compact, but symbolic manner. In other words, one can easily see that the poem is highly short, which can also be said about the length of individual lines, but it is capable of delivering the conceptual themes,
Conclusion
In conclusion, the given analysis primarily focuses on three poems, which are “Mending Wall” by Robert Frost, “Death Be Not Proud” by John Donne, “Wild Nights” by Emily Dickinson. The literary devices discussed and assessed in these writings are imagery, assonance, irony, metaphor, enjambment, and symbolism. The first poem utilizes assonance and imagery, where the former refers to the usage of a vowel sound repetitively, and the latter refers to details on the boulder size of the wall. The second poem specifically uses irony and metaphor, where the author ironically commands death to die and compares the concept to a person. The third poem uses symbolism and enjambment, where the poet continues a single thought without finishing it at a line break and uses the sea to symbolize love.
Work Cited
Kennedy, X. J., et al. Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. 6th ed., Pearson, 2020.