• Repetition: The deliberate use of repeating words, phrases, or structures for emphasis or effect. Example: “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness” – The repetition of “I saw” emphasizes the speaker’s personal observation and sets a rhythmic pattern throughout the poem.

• Anaphora: The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive lines or clauses. Example: “who poverty and tatters and hollow-eyed and high” – The repetition of “and” creates a rhythmic pattern and emphasizes the various aspects of the described individuals.

• Alliteration: The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words in close proximity. Example: “who bared their brains to Heaven under the El and saw Mohammedan angels staggering” – The repetition of the “b” and “s” sounds creates an alliterative effect, enhancing the poem’s musicality.

• Assonance: The repetition of vowel sounds within words nearby. Example: “who sank all night in submarine light of Bickford’s floated out and sat through the stale beer afternoon in desolate Fugazzi’s” – The repetition of the long “o” sound in “sank,” “submarine,” “floated,” and “desolate” creates an assonant effect.

• Imagery: The use of vivid and descriptive language to create sensory experiences. Example: “who poverty and tatters and hollow-eyed and high sat up smoking in the supernatural darkness of cold-water flats” – This line evokes visual and tactile imagery of impoverished individuals sitting and smoking in dimly lit apartments.

• Onomatopoeia: The use of words that imitate the sounds they represent. Example: “who bared their brains to Heaven under the El” – The word “bared” imitates the sound of the speaker’s action, emphasizing the vulnerability and openness described.

• Stream of Consciousness: A narrative technique that presents thoughts and feelings in a continuous and unfiltered flow. Example: The poem often employs a stream-of-consciousness style, where thoughts and images flow seamlessly without clear boundaries, reflecting the spontaneous and unfiltered nature of the speaker’s voice.

Howl summary

The poem delves into the complicated relationship between the speaker’s faith in a divine being and the world’s injustice and misery. It delves into the speaker’s effort to reconcile the presence of evil and inequity with the concept of a benign and all-powerful God. Despite the abundance of natural beauty and order, the speaker is perplexed by racial discrimination and the misery suffered by marginalized people. The poem’s topic of conflicting components, such as beauty and injustice, produces tension. The poem asks if a righteous and loving God can coexist with the reality of injustice and pain, urging readers to ponder the vast mysteries of life and the limitations of human comprehension.

Yet Do I Marvel Summary

• Imagery: can be seen when the poet uses particularly interesting descriptions that appeal to the reader’s senses. These lines should allow the reader to easily visualize the subject matter the poet is describing. For example: “The little buried mole continues blind, / Why flesh that mirrors Him must some day die.”

• Alliteration: occurs when the poet uses the same consonant sounds at the beginning of words. For example, the use of “God” and “good” in line one and “struggle” and “stair” in line eight.

• Enjambment: it occurs when the poet cuts off a line before the natural stopping point. For example, the transition between lines two and three as well as lines five and six.

• Juxtaposition: can be seen when the poet features two contrasting images near one another in a poem. For example in the first stanza when the poet describes God and then moves on to talk about a mole, one of the smallest and seemingly least important creatures.

Yet Do I Marvel Summary

• Imagery: The use of vivid and descriptive language to create sensory experiences. For example, the poem uses visual and tactile imagery to portray Rosa Parks’ fatigue, the “heavy stride” of the bus driver, and the “burned flesh” of the town.

• Metaphor: The comparison of two, unlike things without using “like” or “as.” In the poem, Rosa Parks is compared to a “great dark bird” with “spread wings,” symbolizing her strength and bravery.

• Personification: Giving human qualities or characteristics to non-human entities. For instance, the “shadow” of Rosa Parks is personified as an “evening flare that suddenly snapped,” emphasizing her sudden and significant impact.

• Allusion: References to well-known events or figures. In “Rosa,” the poem alludes to Rosa Parks’ historic act of refusing to give up her seat on the bus, which ignited the Montgomery bus boycott and became a symbol of the civil rights movement.

• Enjambment: The continuation of a sentence or phrase without a pause beyond the end of a line or stanza. This technique creates a sense of flow and movement, allowing ideas to spill over from one line to the next, as seen in the poem’s fluid structure.

• Repetition: The deliberate use of repeating words, phrases, or structures for emphasis or effect. The poem repeats the name “Rosa” throughout, emphasizing the significance and impact of her actions.

• Symbolism: The use of objects, characters, or situations to represent abstract ideas or concepts. In “Rosa,” the bus symbolizes the segregation and discrimination faced by African Americans, while Rosa Parks represents the struggle for equality and civil rights.

Rosa Summary