Following poetic devices/literary devices have been used in the poem Confessions of a Born Spectator:

1. Personification– Personification is a figure of speech in which an idea or thing is given human attributes and/or feelings or is spoken of as if it were human. Examples- “limp and bashful spirit”, “prudence wins”, “ego it might be pleased enough”, “My soul in true thanksgiving speaks for this modest of physiques”
2. Alliteration- It is the occurrence of the same sound at the beginning of closely connected words. Examples- “true thanksgiving”, “On other people’s”
3. Anaphora– This is the repetition of initial words. Examples- “When swollen eye meets gnarled fist/ When snaps the knee, and cracks the wrist, / When officialdom demands”, “Or eat with you, / Or anything except compete with you”
4. Enjambment– It is the continuation of a sentence to multiple lines. Many of the sentences in this poem span multiple lines and are therefore of this nature.
5. Inversion– It is a change in the expected word order. Examples- “This one the prize ring hates to enter”, “They do not ever in their dealings/ Consider one another’s feelings”, “When swollen eye meets gnarled fist”, “When snaps the knee, and cracks the wrist”, “My soul in true thanksgiving speaks”

Confessions of Born Spectator Poem Summary