1. Alliteration: The repetition of initial consonant sounds in neighboring words. Example: “Round hayfields, cornfields, and potato-drills” – The repetition of the “r” sound in “round,” “hayfields,” “cornfields,” and “potato-drills.”
2. Assonance: The repetition of vowel sounds in neighboring words. Example: “Where briars scratched and wet grass bleached our boots.” – The repetition of the long “a” sound in “briars,” “scratched,” “grass,” “bleached,” and “boots.”
3. Imagery: The use of vivid and descriptive language that appeals to the senses to create mental images. Example: “A rat-grey fungus, glutting on our cache.” – This line creates a vivid mental image of the rat-grey fungus feasting on the spoiled blackberries.
4. Metaphor: A figure of speech that makes a comparison between two different things without using “like” or “as.” Example: “The fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour.” – The process of the fruit fermenting is compared to the souring of the sweet flesh.
5. Personification: Giving human qualities or characteristics to non-human entities. Example: “The juice was stinking too.” – The juice is given the human quality of “stinking.”
6. Enjambment: The continuation of a sentence or phrase from one line of a poem to the next without a pause. Example: “But when the bath was filled we found a fur, A rat-grey fungus, glutting on our cache.” – The sentence continues from the first line to the second without a pause.
7. Symbolism: The use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities. Example: “The rat-grey fungus” – The fungus symbolizes decay and the impermanence of pleasure.
8. Repetition: The repeated use of words or phrases for emphasis. Example: “And dulls to distance all we are.” – The repetition of the “d” sound in “dulls,” “distance,” and “all” creates a sense of monotony and fading.

Blackberry-Picking Summary