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What are the poetic devices used in the poem What Thing is Love?

What are the poetic devices used in the poem What Thing is Love?

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    1. Repetition- Repetition is a literary method in which a word or phrase is used again and again in a spoken or written piece. The word “It is” is repeated at the beginning of several lines (“It is a prick, it is a sting,” “It is a pretty, pretty thing”), which emphasizes various facets of love rhythmically and forcefully.
    2. Metaphor- A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a term or phrase designating one type of thing or activity is substituted for another to bring attention to a similarity or comparison between the two. Love is compared to a “prick” and a “sting,” implying that it can be piercing and unbearable. It’s also likened to a “fire” and a “coal,” highlighting the passion and warmth that come with love.
    3. Imagery- The reader’s sense of reality is improved through the employment of vivid pictures. A clear picture of how all-consuming and all-encompassing love is is painted when it is compared to a “fire” with flames peeping in at every opening.
    4. Personification- A figure of speech known as personification is employed to give something that is not human, human attributes. When love is said to reside in women’s eyes, it is embodied. This personification gives love human characteristics, implying that it has a specific location and can fire “piercing darts.”
    5. Antithesis- It is a figure of speech known as an antithesis that contrasts two sharply opposing ideas. We can contrast in the poem, ‘It is a prick, it is a sting, /It is a pretty, pretty thing.’ In these lines, the poet states love as a beautiful thing and also as a thing that will cause you pain.

    What Thing is Love? Summary

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