Elizabeth Barrett Browning: Poems Literary Elements

The poem ‘’Grief’’ is told from the perspective of a first person subjective narrator. This is suggested by the way in which the poem starts, the first line being ‘’I tell you’’. This creates a personal poem and transmits the idea that the narrator is writing about her own personal feelings which she communicates with the reader.

The poem ‘’Love’’ is written in an iambic pentameter.

In the poem ‘’Only a Curl’’, the major metaphor used is that of the curl. In this context, the curl represents the way a person can remember a loved one even when they are away from one another.

We find an alliteration in the poem ‘’A Lady’s Yes’’ in the line ‘’ Fit for Yes or fit for No !’’. Through this alliteration, the narrator wants to transmit the idea that a person may at times change his or her mind quickly and that we must accept this change. The alliteration also has the purpose of making the reader aware of these changes, as to prepare the reader for them.

An irony appears in the poem ‘’The Cry of the Children’’ when an adult tries to comfort the children about death by telling them that they should not worry about graves because they are only for old people. The children point out that ironically, this is not true, as many children die in their youth and end up being buried alongside their adult counterparts.

The poem ‘’The Lady’s Yes’’ is a meditative poem in which the narrator looks at the reasons why a woman may change her mind about a possible or a current partner and how the men can prevent this from happening.

The action in the poem ‘’A Musical Instrument’’ takes place near a lake and also inside a boat in the lake. The time however is not mentioned but because the God Pan is the main character we can assume that the action takes place in a distance past.

The tone in the poem ‘’A Man’s Requirements’’ is a condescending one, thus proving that the things men ask from women are more than often not reasonable and not on the same level with the things men demand from women.

The protagonist in the poem ‘’Mother and the Poet’’ is the mother and the antagonist is death which took her children away from her.

The major conflict in the poem ‘’A Musical Instrument’’ is between art and the destruction an artist does in order to create art.

The poem ‘’Love’’ reaches its climax when the man and the woman in the woman fall in love with one another and thus their life starts revolving around love.

In the beginning of the poem ‘’A Musical Instrument’’, the narrator mentions the damages done by the God Pan. This foreshadows the damage done by music, damage explained later in the poem.

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In the poem ‘’A Lady’s Yes’’, the narrator analyzes the different reasons for which a woman may change her mind and her answer when it comes to marriage. The reason why a woman may change her opinion is because she sometimes sees the truth about the man she chose and thus she no longer wants to be with him. This statement makes men responsible as it transmits the idea that men have to make changes in their lives as well if they want to have faithful wives or the prospect of finding a wife.

The term ‘’feet’’ is used in the poem ‘’The Cry of the Children’’ as a general term to make reference to the power possessed by children. Because the children claim their feet are weak, this suggests their lack of power, both physical and mental.

We find a personification in the poem ‘’Only a Curl’’ in the line ‘’weak tears of relief’’.

We find a hyperbole in the lines ‘’ And the babe cries ! — has each of us known /By apocalypse’’ in the poem ‘’Only a Curl’’.

We find an onomatopoeia in the poem ‘’Grief’’ in the line ‘’ in loud access /Of shrieking and reproach.’’