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What are the poetic devices used in the poem Had I the Choice?

What are the poetic devices used in the poem Had I the Choice?

1 Answer

    • Alliteration- Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of adjacent or closely positioned words. It can be seen in places like, “Its trick to me transfer” and ‘Homer with all his wars and warriors”.
    • Metaphor- A metaphor is a figure of speech that involves an implied comparison between two unlike things, highlighting similarities without using “like” or “as.”Whitman also uses metaphors when he speaks of Shakespeare’s “woe-entangled” characters as if they were caught up in a web of grief and unable to free themselves. He speaks of the “trick” of a wave, suggesting a sleight of hand perhaps, some hidden magic in the motion of the sea.
    • Personification- Personification is attributing human characteristics to non-human entities or abstract concepts. The sea is personified in the following lines, “Would you the undulation of one wave, its trick to me transfer,/ Or breathe one breath of yours upon my verse,/ And leave its odor there.”.
    • Apostrophe- In poetry, an “apostrophe” is a figure of speech in which the poet addresses an absent person, an abstract idea, or a non-human entity as if it were present and capable of responding. It can be seen in the line, “These, these, O sea, all these I’d gladly barter,”.
    • Enjambment- Enjambment is the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, stanza, or couplet. It can be seen in this poem and it makes the poem flow like the sea waves.

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