While life is finite, legacy stretches past a person’s life and carries a part of them forward. As this legacy is representative of people well beyond their existence, it holds great importance. This is also as a legacy can be simultaneously definitive of a person and only represent a small portion of him or her. This aspect of legacy allows it to be either positive or negative. In Meditation on a Bone by A.D. Hope, a negative legacy is developed through the extended metaphor of the bone. With the metaphor of the bone, a melancholic tone is established using negative diction. Both the tone and the metaphor are enhanced with the poet’s usage of imagery. The poem’s overall structure also furthers the impact of the bone as legacy as it features
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The rhyme scheme of the poem progresses through the poem. The first three stanzas have irregular rhyme schemes, as several end rhymes are not performed in a specific pattern. However, the final 2 stanzas have greater order as both of these stanzas have a regular rhyme scheme. This has two effects on the poem. First, the difference between the two sections, one with irregular rhyme scheme and the other with regular rhyme scheme, separates the effect of the contents of the bone, and therefore the original writer’s legacy’s effect, between the two characters. The section of the poem with irregular rhyme scheme focuses on how the emotions of the bone affect the scholar, and the section with regular rhyme scheme focuses on the man who is not he. This difference is also heightened by the poet’s use of enjambment between these two sections. While enjambment is frequently used in stanzas in the poem, there’s only one use of enjambment across stanzas, which highlights the shift in order. This enjambment occurs at the same point as the shift from irregular to regular rhyme scheme, which is between stanza 3 and 4 and lines 17-20, which are all part of one sentence. While both the shift in rhyme scheme and the specific use of enjambment demonstrate a fundamental difference between the two characters, the two literary features also reflect on the idea of legacy. This is primarily due to the sense of order in the poem which relates to each character’s response to the contents of the bone. As the shift occurs between stanzas 3 and 4, the sense of chaos that existed in the first 3 stanzas turned to order as represented by the rhyme scheme. This is further defined by the scholar’s response to the bone, which was to think of it as “a dull sum of misery” (Line 22). This immediate emotional response to the bone and its contents reflects the
The rhyme scheme of the poem progresses through the poem. The first three stanzas have irregular rhyme schemes, as several end rhymes are not performed in a specific pattern. However, the final 2 stanzas have greater order as both of these stanzas have a regular rhyme scheme. This has two effects on the poem. First, the difference between the two sections, one with irregular rhyme scheme and the other with regular rhyme scheme, separates the effect of the contents of the bone, and therefore the original writer’s legacy’s effect, between the two characters. The section of the poem with irregular rhyme scheme focuses on how the emotions of the bone affect the scholar, and the section with regular rhyme scheme focuses on the man who is not he. This difference is also heightened by the poet’s use of enjambment between these two sections. While enjambment is frequently used in stanzas in the poem, there’s only one use of enjambment across stanzas, which highlights the shift in order. This enjambment occurs at the same point as the shift from irregular to regular rhyme scheme, which is between stanza 3 and 4 and lines 17-20, which are all part of one sentence. While both the shift in rhyme scheme and the specific use of enjambment demonstrate a fundamental difference between the two characters, the two literary features also reflect on the idea of legacy. This is primarily due to the sense of order in the poem which relates to each character’s response to the contents of the bone. As the shift occurs between stanzas 3 and 4, the sense of chaos that existed in the first 3 stanzas turned to order as represented by the rhyme scheme. This is further defined by the scholar’s response to the bone, which was to think of it as “a dull sum of misery” (Line 22). This immediate emotional response to the bone and its contents reflects the