Education for Leisure Literary Elements

First-person narration from the perspective of an unnamed speaker who plans to commit a murder

The poem is written in four quatrains of free verse and has no regular meter

The use of the term "another language" to describe a dead fly is a metaphor for the transition between life and death. The speaker uses "talent" as a metaphorical description for his breath and "autograph" as a metaphor for his signature, hinting at his delusions of grandeur.

Alliterative S's appears in the line "a sort of grey boredom stirring in the streets," as do alliterative A's in "They don’t appreciate my autograph." Assonant A's appear in "half a chance."

The speaker constantly cites his genius and brilliance, but he is, if anything, extraordinary in negative ways. Meanwhile, his sense that he deserves inordinate amounts of power and respect leads him to be rejected and disliked.

Dramatic Monologue

The speaker's home and the street around it

Angry, Resentful, Grandiose

The speaker is both the protagonist and the antagonist, because we experience his thoughts as he commits and plans harmful acts.

The speaker is frustrated that the world does not understand him or recognize his brilliance and potential. Therefore he seeks to exert violence to convey the frustrations that he constantly feels.

The poem reaches its climax when the speaker proclaims that "there is nothing left to kill."

The sentence "the budgie is panicking" foreshadows that the speaker will kill the bird.

Descriptions of the speaker's killing become increasingly understated, eventually alluded to only through hinting and euphemism.

The poem alludes to the Bible and the works of Shakespeare.

N/A

The emotion of ennui is personified as "stirring in the streets."

The speaker exaggerates his abilities and brilliance, displaying an exaggerated ego.

The term “squash” is an onomatopoeia.