Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
The poems are written from a first-person point of view.
Form and Meter
The poems are written in a modernist style and thus do not have a form or meter.
Metaphors and Similes
N/A
Alliteration and Assonance
We find alliteration in the lines "I have always aspired to a more spacious form/ that would be free from the claims of poetry or prose."
Irony
In the poem "Love," the narrator notes ironically that to love means to look at something from the distance rather than to look from close proximity. It is only then, the narrator claims, when a person can truly understand the meaning of love.
Genre
Meditative poems
Setting
Because the poems are meditative, there is no setting.
Tone
The tone used in the poems is a neutral one.
Protagonist and Antagonist
Because these are meditative poems, there is no antagonist and protagonist.
Major Conflict
The major conflict in the poems is between the narrator’s desire to write good poetry and his knowledge that he is kept back by his own limitations.
Climax
The poem "Incantation" reaches its climax when human reason and poetry cross over the mountains described in the poem.
Foreshadowing
In the poem "Ars Poetica," the narrator mentions how good books disappeared slowly. This foreshadows the problems the narrator mentions as appearing as a result of the disappearance of the wise books.
Understatement
In the poem "Incantation," the narrator claims that poetry is the highest form of art. This is however an understatement as in another poem, "Ars Poetica," he claims he would like to have some higher form of art.
Allusions
In the poem "Incantation," the narrator alludes that poetry and human reason appeared in the world at the same time. According to the narrator, the two are related and help humankind become better and transmit the truth.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The expression "estate of the world" mentioned in the poem "Incantation" is used as a general term to make reference to the abundance of human knowledge one has access to.
Personification
We find a personification in the line "Human reason (…) does not know Jew from Greek."
Hyperbole
We find a hyperbole in the line "the filthy discord of tortured words."
Onomatopoeia
We find an onomatopoeia in the line "the wounded air roared in/paroxysms of pain" in the poem "Child of Europe."
