ASSIGNMENT 3
In this satirical poem e. e. cummings talks about patriotic ideology and his opposition of it. The poem is about people who encourage this view and cummings showing how ridiculous it really is. To achieve the satire he uses different literary devices, but mainly structural irony. This type of irony consists of a narrator who is sure of his viewpoints and doesn’t see what is wrong with it, but the author and reader do. In this poem, first thirteen lines are a speech by a very patriotic man. Yet, while reading it, we get an impression that cummings doesn’t agree with him. That impression is accomplished by the use of other devices.
Firstly, in lines 9-13 he uses simile to compare the soldiers to lions, as well as oxymoron “happy dead” which the reader can recognize as absurd and therefore realize that the author disagrees with the speaker. Furthermore the line 12 shows his criticism of men thoughtlessly going to death for their country and the line 13 is a rhetoric question that makes the reader ask who the voices of liberty actually are.
Secondly, there are different allusions to American patriotic songs, for example “My Country, 'Tis of Thee” (“land of the pilgrims'”) and “The Star-Spangled Banner” (“by the dawn's early”), which is a national anthem of US, as well as Bible (“your glorious name”) and then popular song …show more content…
For example, the first line ends with “i” to emphasize the mindset of many patriots: first comes God, then America, then they. Furthermore, not capitalizing the word America makes it seem unimportant, adding to the anti-patriotic message. Moreover, the structure and form of the poem contribute to its resemblance to a speech. So it’s clear that all of these fulfill their purpose in conveying author’s
In this satirical poem e. e. cummings talks about patriotic ideology and his opposition of it. The poem is about people who encourage this view and cummings showing how ridiculous it really is. To achieve the satire he uses different literary devices, but mainly structural irony. This type of irony consists of a narrator who is sure of his viewpoints and doesn’t see what is wrong with it, but the author and reader do. In this poem, first thirteen lines are a speech by a very patriotic man. Yet, while reading it, we get an impression that cummings doesn’t agree with him. That impression is accomplished by the use of other devices.
Firstly, in lines 9-13 he uses simile to compare the soldiers to lions, as well as oxymoron “happy dead” which the reader can recognize as absurd and therefore realize that the author disagrees with the speaker. Furthermore the line 12 shows his criticism of men thoughtlessly going to death for their country and the line 13 is a rhetoric question that makes the reader ask who the voices of liberty actually are.
Secondly, there are different allusions to American patriotic songs, for example “My Country, 'Tis of Thee” (“land of the pilgrims'”) and “The Star-Spangled Banner” (“by the dawn's early”), which is a national anthem of US, as well as Bible (“your glorious name”) and then popular song …show more content…
For example, the first line ends with “i” to emphasize the mindset of many patriots: first comes God, then America, then they. Furthermore, not capitalizing the word America makes it seem unimportant, adding to the anti-patriotic message. Moreover, the structure and form of the poem contribute to its resemblance to a speech. So it’s clear that all of these fulfill their purpose in conveying author’s