English Notes Latest Questions

What are the poetic devices used in the poem No Men are Foreign?

What are the poetic devices used in the poem No Men are Foreign?

1 Answer

  1. Following poetic devices have been used in the poem No Men are Foreign:

    1. Metaphor: It is a poetic device which is used to make a comparison between two things that aren’t alike but do have something in common. e.g. in the poem the poet compares the war with winter (stanza 2) and hell (stanza 5) because of its dread effects on humanity. Another example of metaphor in the poem is when the poet calls people living in foreign lands as brothers.
    2. Alliteration: It is the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words. e.g. “a single body breathes”, “in which we all shall lie”, “war’s long winter”, “In every land is common life”, “whenever we are told”.
    3. Polysyndeton: It is a literary technique in which conjunctions (e.g. and, but, or) are used repeatedly in quick succession. e.g. “aware of sun and air and water”.
    4. Enjambment: It is the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza. e.g. the last line of Stanza 4 continues to stanza 5.

    Read summary of this poem.

You must login to add an answer.