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  1. The central theme of the poem revolves around the profound experience of loss and grief, particularly focusing on the mother's lament for her young son who tragically drowned. The poem highlights the deep sorrow that accompanies the death of a child, emphasizing the intense theme of loss. The poem aRead more

    The central theme of the poem revolves around the profound experience of loss and grief, particularly focusing on the mother’s lament for her young son who tragically drowned. The poem highlights the deep sorrow that accompanies the death of a child, emphasizing the intense theme of loss. The poem also touches upon identity and the quest for connection. The poet portrays the child as an explorer of new worlds in order to discover himself. The poem also explores the themes of life’s journey, from birth to self-discovery, and depicts the emotional complexity of a mother observing her son’s exploration into the unknown.

    Death of a Young Son by Drowning Summary

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  1. As the poem is written in free-verse, it has no set rhyme scheme. Though there are a few instances of slant rhyme present in the poem, overall there is no rhyming pattern. Death of a Young Son by Drowning Summary

    As the poem is written in free-verse, it has no set rhyme scheme. Though there are a few instances of slant rhyme present in the poem, overall there is no rhyming pattern.

    Death of a Young Son by Drowning Summary

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  1. The poem revolves around the themes of loss and death. The poem is a mother’s lament about the death of her young son who died by drowning. The poem explores the grief that the woman goes through. The sense of loss at the death of a child is one of the main themes. Other themes touched upon are idenRead more

    The poem revolves around the themes of loss and death. The poem is a mother’s lament about the death of her young son who died by drowning. The poem explores the grief that the woman goes through. The sense of loss at the death of a child is one of the main themes. Other themes touched upon are identity and the search for connection. The child had gone out to explore the world and find himself. The poem talks about the search for identity and belongingness for young children.

    Death of a Young Son by Drowning Summary

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  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. Simile- simile is used when the poet directly compares one thing to another by using the words “as”Read more

    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.”

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