1. Alliteration – Alliteration is repetition of the same letter or sound in a line. In the poem alliteration occurs in the lines “his head”, “he was hung”, “It was the spring, the sun kept shining,” etc.
2. Simile- simile is used when the poet directly compares one thing to another by using the words “as” or “like”. In this poem, the poet uses simile in the lines“he was hung in the river like a heart”, and “I planted him in this country/ like a flag.”
3. Symbolism- symbolism is when the poet uses words to symbolize a concept, person or idea in a poem. In this poem, the “floating land”  symbolizes the emotional distance between the mother and son.
4. Metaphor- metaphor is used when the poet makes an undercut comparison between two things without using the words “like” or “as”. In the, the poet compares “the dangerous river of his own birth” to the search for identity. Metaphor is also used in the lines “his head a bathysphere”, “cairn of my plans and future charts”, and “The dreamed sails”.
5. Imagery- imagery is the use of words by a poet to paint a picture in the minds of the reader. Imagery can be of various types; tactile, olfactory, auditory, gustatory and visual. In the poem, the poet uses visual imagery to create the image of the strange land and the river flowing.
6. Enjambment – enjambment is when the line is continued onto the next line without any pause. In the poem, the poet uses enjambment to create an internal connection within the stanzas.
7. Personification- personification is used when the poet gives human-like qualities to non-human objects. The poem personifies “currents” in the line “the currents took him.”

Death of a Young Son by Drowning Summary