Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
In the poem entitled "Both Portraits’’, the poem is narrated from a third person objective point of view. In the poem entitled "Inspiration’’, the poem is related from a first person subjective narrator.
Form and Meter
The poems are written in an iambic pentameter.
Metaphors and Similes
In the poem entitled "Both Portraits’’, the main metaphor is the glass used by the narrator to forget his beloved. In this sense, the glass is used here as a metaphor to suggest the pain the narrator feels as a result of being abandoned by the person he loved.
Alliteration and Assonance
We find alliteration in the line "immaculate mannequin’’ in the poem entitled "Both Portraits’’.
Irony
An ironic element is presented in the poem "Inspiration’’ where the author talks about coyotes that run after him. Ironically, instead of stopping him from reaching his goals, the coyotes push the man even further in his quest.
Genre
Most of the poems are meditative poems.
Setting
The poem "Both Portraits’’ takes place inside a single room.
Tone
The tone used in most of the poems is a neutral one.
Protagonist and Antagonist
In the poem "Both Portraits’’, the protagonist is the man and the antagonist is the woman.
Major Conflict
The major conflict in the poem "Inspiration’’ is between the poet and the people who refuse to believe in him and chose instead to criticize him.
Climax
There is no climax in any of the poems.
Foreshadowing
The first line of the poem "Both Portraits’’, when the narrator talks about how he remembers his beloved but how his memories are bleary foreshadows the way the narrator will describe her disappearance from his life.
Understatement
When the narrator claims that his beloved will return to him "any minute’’ in the poem entitled "Both Portraits’’ is an understatement because at the end of the poem the author talks about how his beloved was gone such a long time that he had to take down her portrait.
Allusions
In the poem entitled "Both Portraits’’ the narrator compares the feeling of losing someone with a bluebottle fly, a common fly found in most countries. By comparing the feeling he has with such a common fly, the narrator alludes that the feeling of loss is something he is accustomed to and something that is part of his everyday life.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The term "coyotes" is used here in a general way to make reference to the people who do not believe in the poet and his abilities to create outstanding pieces of literature.
Personification
We find personification in the lines "yellow Stanley measuring tape/used to measure what used to matter’’.
Hyperbole
No hyperbole can be found in the poems.
Onomatopoeia
No onomatopoeia can be found in the poems.
