Anaphora:

Anaphora is a literary device that uses the repetition of short phrases or single words at the beginning of clauses or sentences to enhance rhythm. The poet has used this poetic device in the following lines.

Nor armour for defence:

Nor vaults his guilt to shrowd

His Booke the Heav’ns hee makes,

 His wisedome heav’nly things.

Metaphor:

Metaphor is a literary device where two unrelated objects are compared to each other. The poet has used this poetic device in the following lines.

Good thoughts his surest friends,

 His wealth a well-spent age,

The earth his sober Inne,

 And quiet pilgrimage.

In this stanza, the poet compares good thoughts to true friends. In the same way, he compares experience to wealth. In the last two lines he compares earth to an inn amd life journey to a pilgrimage.

Personification:

Personification is a poetic device where animals, plants or even inanimate objects are given human qualities. The poet has used this poetic device in the following lines.

Whom hopes cannot delude,

 Nor sorrowes discontent

Here, hope and sorrow are personified.

Repetition:

Repetition is a literary device where a certain word or phrase is repeated multiple times to emphasise the word or to create a rhythm. The poet has used this poetic device in the following lines.

The man of life upright,

The phrase “the man” is repeated at the poem.

In the fifth stanza the word “his” repeated.

Good thoughts his surest friends,

 His wealth a well-spent age,

The earth his sober Inne,

 And quiet pilgrimage.

The Man of Life Upright Summary

The theme of the poem is the pain of unrequited love. Though the poem is about love, it is not romantic. In fact, the poet’s friend has a beloved who does not love him back. In the poem, we come across the repercussions that the poet’s friend is going through because he is heartbroken. He even appears to be ‘pale and wan.’ The poet is unable to see his friend in such a condition and asks him to move on because being in love with somebody who does not love him back will only cause him pain.

Why So Pale and Wan, Fond Lover? Summary

The main theme behind the poem “Root Cellar” is hope. The poet advises the readers to live their life with hope and determination.By describing the plants hope in the cellar, he is motivating the readers to pass their days with such determination.

Nothing would give up life:

Even the dirt kept breathing a small breath.

He says, that even the dirt is breathing with a determination. He says, even the plants inside the cellar are living their life without giving up. The speaker says there may be dark phases in one’s life, but one should not give up instead they should try to get light from all the ways possibile.

Root Cellar Summary

Alliteration:

Alliteration is a literary device in which certain sounds are repeated at the beginning of words in a sentence or phrase.

The poet has used this poetic device in the following lines.

sleep in that cellar,

dank as a ditch,

Bulbs broke,

dangled and drooped,

 Roots ripe, etc.

Assonance:

Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in words that are close together in a sentence or verse. The poet has used this poetic device in the following lines.

sleep in,

lime, piled

Consonance:

Consonance is the repetition of identical or similar consonants in neighbouring words whose vowel sounds are different.

The poet has used this poetic device in the following lines.

evil necks, like tropical snakes, Hung down long yellow,

Metaphor:

Metaphor is a literary device where two unrelated objects are compared to each other. The poet has used this poetic device in the following lines.

Bulbs broke out of boxes hunting for chinks in the dark,

Here, the poet compares “bulb” to a creature that hunts.

Personification:

Personification is a poetic device where animals, plants or even inanimate objects are given human qualities.

The poet has used this poetic device in the following lines.

“Nothing would give up life:

Even the dirt kept breathing a small breath.”

Here, the dirt is personified.

Simile:

A simile is a figure of speech that compares two unlike things using the words “like” or “as.”

The poet has used this poetic device in the following lines.

“Hung down long yellow evil necks, like tropical snakes.”

Here, the green stems of the plant are compared to tropical snakes.

“Roots ripe as old bait,”

Here, the roots are compared to old bait.

Hyperbole:

Hyperbole is a literary device used to draw emphasis through extreme exaggeration. The poet has used this poetic device in the following lines

Nothing would give up life:

Even the dirt kept breathing a small breath.

Root Cellar Summary