Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
Speaker: a man calling for God's forgiveness
Point of view: first person
Form and Meter
sonnet, ABBA and ABAB rhyme scheme
Metaphors and Similes
Pardon sealed with blood metaphor-
In the last line of the poem, the speaker compares God's forgiveness to a pardon sealed with blood, connecting the metaphysical with the tangible world.
Alliteration and Assonance
"At the round earth's imagin'd corners"- repetition of the /r/
Irony
Situational irony-The poem takes a turn in the middle from the speaker's bravery in calling for the end of the world to his change of heart to be given more time to repent for his sins.
Genre
poetry, sonnet
Setting
The poem is concerned with a troubled individual, who is miserable with his way of life and regretful of his sins.
Tone
despairing
Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonist: the speaker of the poem; Antagonist: the speaker's sins for which he wants to repent
Major Conflict
The speaker of the poem is conflicted between his desired bravery in facing the death and judgement of God and fear of his sins for which he feels the need to repent.
Climax
The speaker of the poem asks from God to teach him how to repent while he is still alive and present on the "lowly ground" comparing it to a pardon with a blood seal.
Foreshadowing
The first half of the text is filled with the biblical foreshadowing of the judgement day.
Understatement
"But let them sleep"-the word sleep is used in reference to death
Allusions
The entire poem is an allusion to the Judgement Day from the Bible:
"At the round earth's imagin'd corners, blow
Your trumpets, angels, and arise, arise"
Metonymy and Synecdoche
"you numberless infinities"-used as a collective description of all of those who died.
Personification
"and you whose eyes
Shall behold God"
Hyperbole
"Teach me how to repent; for that's as good
As if thou'hadst seal'd my pardon with thy blood"
-an exaggerated way to express the ability to repent for sins
Onomatopoeia
N/A
