Poetic Language In Toni Morrison's Song Of Solomon

Song of Solomon is a richly textured novel in which Toni Morrison uses poetic language as well as a variety of literary devices to ultimately make her novel unique and with a certain level of depth. The passage above is particularly interesting because it incorporates many of the literary devices that Morrison uses such as metaphors, similes, oxymoron, allusions, and a variety of imageries. The excerpt also reveals Macon Dead’s personality through the other characters and his role in the household. This type of narrative, where the characters are discovered mainly through the other characters, is consistent throughout the whole novel. Ruth's character, for example, was shown to be isolated from the black community and thought of as a wanna-be white women from the appearance of the others and their actions during Mr. Smith’s suicide leap.
Macon is described indirectly as a volcano because he was ‘likely to erupt without prior notice’, showing his intense attitude and his obsession with being in control. In the first couple of sentences, Macon Dead is even presented in an abrupt matter that can also correlate with his personality. The women would quietly eat their sunshine cake but the stillness was broken by …show more content…
Morrison makes detailed comparisons between Ruth's passion for the watermark and a lighthouse keeper who gazes at the sea as well as a prisoner who searches out the sun. Here, the allusion to the lighthouse keeper and the prisoner help the reader connect to Ruth's desire to confirm the watermarks presence. It is very effective when the author connects characters feelings to allusions that the reader too can feel because it creates more connectivity between the reader and the novel. I believe that Morrison achieved that connectivity here by comparing Ruth’s watermark to a lighthouse keeper’s sea and a prisoner’s