Loneliness In David Mason's 'Song Of Powers'

Loneliness, a feeling that no one wants to ever experience, but is inevitable. Many try to avoid it, but Whitney Houston says it best: “Loneliness comes with life”. This reality of loneliness is precisely depicted in David Mason’s poem “Song of Powers.” Within this poem, Mason uses imagery, repetition, and alliteration to convey his message: that when everyone constantly fights, then they will all end up alone.
Mason masterfully uses imagery in his poem to send his brilliant message to the reader. While the author speaks of the paper’s power, the speaker says, “Mine, said the paper, / mine are the words / that smother the stone” (7-9). In this quote, the author is trying to say that the paper has the power of communication, and that he can engulf the stone as it does in rock, paper, scissors. The reader can imagine this in their head, but by smothering the stone it causes the stone to feel lonely as it has been beaten. …show more content…
In the first stanza, while talking about the stone’s power, the speaker says, “I crush the scissors, / such is my power. / Stronger than wishes” (3-5). Mason repeats the beginning sound in scissors, such, and stronger; he does this to emphasize the stone’s power: winning the argument. Even by emphasizing the stone winning the argument with alliteration, the stone winning still creates a feeling of loneliness for the paper and the scissors. Mason starts the last stanza with alliteration, he writes, “As stone crushes scissors, / as paper snuffs stone / and scissors cut paper” (19-21). In this quote, the author repeats the “s” sound in stone, scissors, and snuffs to emphasize those words. The author emphasizes these words to show that they beat each other, and they do not work together which will cause them to end up alone. Alliteration allows the emphasize of certain words in Mason’s poem that then can clearly show his