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What are the figure of speech in the poem Life by Henry Van Dyke?

What are the figure of speech in the poem Life by Henry Van Dyke?

1 Answer

    1. Alliteration: Alliteration is when two or more words that start with the same sound are used repeatedly in a phrase or a sentence. … For example, ‘tasty tacos’ is considered an alliteration, but ‘thirty typist’ is not, because ‘th’ and ‘ty’ don’t sound the same. Alliteration is a type of repetition- a repetition of sounds. There are many usages of alliterations in the poem such as ‘ happy heart’. The effect of this is that even though the two words are very positive, the alliteration helps it by adding more effect into it as the two h sounds make the words much more pleasing to the ear and help us grasp a better view of it
    2. There are points that two words with opposite meanings are put next to each other such a Youth and Age. This is done as the two are put together to show a better contrast between the two concepts. 
    3. The rhyming scheme of the poem is “abbaabba cddcee”
    4. The language used here is quite simple. Soothing and soft words are used such as friendship, smooth, sought, and soul. This emphasizes the fact that the journey of life is an enjoyable one and is best to accept what it has to offer rather than go against it.
    5. Anaphora: An anaphora is a rhetorical device in which a word or expression is repeated at the beginning of a number of sentences, clauses, or phrases. A well-known example of this may be found in the speech given by Winston Churchill to the House of Commons on June 4th, 1940: “We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air…”. The poet used anaphora at the beginning of some neighboring lines however the same word not is repeated. 
    6. The form of the poem might be a sonnet with iambic pentameter or an irregular meter.
    7. The poem is written more of a speech than a poem judging by how it is structured and how each line flows into one another. For example:“So let the way wind up the hill or down, O’er rough or smooth, the journey will be joy:”

    Life Poem by Henry Van Dyke Summary & Line by Line Explanation

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