Use Of Figurative Language In Poetry

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Poetry has been prevalent for centuries, present in all cultures. There is a grand variety of styles that poetry can be represented through. There are some types of poetry where one follows rigid guidelines like sonnets, where one follows a specific rhyme scheme and an iambic pentameter, or a haiku, which has three lines and the first and last line have five syllables while the second line has seven. Additionally, some poets follow no requirements, and write as they please, like free verse poetry. However, poetry possesses much more than just rules and guidelines. Poetry incorporates heaps of figurative language in them; similes, hyperboles, and metaphors are just some examples of an endless list of vivid language that entice the reader. …show more content…
One of these poems is “Bombardment”. The name of the poem itself gives a hint as to the substance in the poem. The poem is about the experiences of Aldington as he served in the trenches. He wrote the poem to show the people a part of his experiences fighting in World War I. The tone of the poem throughout is a fearful one; this is shown throughout the story, but specifically, it states in the poem that, “Three nights we dared not sleep, sweating, and listening for the imminent crash which meant our death” (“Bombardment”). Waiting in the trenches knowing that death could arise at any second would definitely be a stressful situation. As per usual, the poem is chock full of imagery, with one example being “The fourth night every man, nerve-tortured, racked to exhaustion, slept, muttering, and twitching, while the shells crashed overhead” (“Bombardment”). He also used caesuras in his poems like periods and commas. Interestingly, he used the lines “...and looked above the wreckage of the earth to where the white clouds moved in silent lines across the untroubled blue” (“Bombardment”). This is an antithesis, because it is signifying and comparing the mass chaos that is occurring on the surface of the earth and the calm, soothing sky above them. Since this is a free verse poem, there is no specific rhyme scheme. The theme of the poem is that war is an experience that is very frightening …show more content…
Firstly, the title “At the British Museum” gives a great deal of information to the reader. For one, it tells them that the setting of this poem is in a British Museum, which makes sense since Aldington has been in England before, and the title says so. The subject of the poem, which is presumably Aldington, talks about the library itself and a book he is reading. He describes the library in great detail, mentioning, “The heavy musty air, the black desks, the bent heads and the rustling noises in the great dome…” (“At the British Museum”). His tone is dreamy, as he slowly drifts into the world he is reading about. There is, of course, imagery present in the poem, especially about the library and the story he is reading about, which happens to be about the Can Grande’s castle. There is caesuras in this poem, as per usual. There is the repetition of phrases that describe the land around the castle, saying, “The sun hangs over the cobalt-blue sky, the boat drifts over the lake shallows, the fishes skim like umber shades through the undulating weeds. The oleanders drop their rosy petals on the lawns” (“At the British Museum”). There is also a simile present when describing the fish. There is no rhyme scheme present in this poem, since it is free

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