On the Death of the Late Earl of Rochester Literary Elements

Second-person limited omniscient: Behn is directly addressing people and urging them to mourn.

Iambic pentameter in rhyming couplets

Behn uses a Greek god as a simile for Wilmot, who "like a god" dispensed insight and inspiration to the masses.

Assonance occurs in lines 25 and 26, where "o'ercome" is forced to rhyme with "tomb". Alliteration occurs in the phrase "fix your fair eyes", which also substitutes a trochaic foot for the first iambic foot, slowing down the meter and causing the reader to emphasize the words.

The biggest irony of this piece occurs in the second stanza when Behn describes Rochester as a "reproacher" of vice. In reality, he was more of an instigator. For a notorious libertine to be praised as someone who was keeping all the irreverent youths in line is extremely ironic.

Eulogy in the heroic tradition

England, summer of 1680 following the death of John Wilmot, the 2nd Earl of Rochester. Also includes brief forays to visit some of the minor Greek gods in the underworld and elsewhere

Wistful

The deceased John Wilmot is the protagonist of this poem, with all his virtues and good qualities described at length.

As with all eulogies, this poem's major conflict is the fact that the protagonist is dead.

Because this poem does not have a plot, the word "climax" is perhaps misapplied. However the poem does build up to the notion that, had Wilmot been known to Augustus Caesar, he would have been made into a god equal in power and immortality to the Muses and Cupids.

Behn foreshadows her speculation about Augustus's hypothetical appreciation for Wilmot by addressing the classical gods associated with Augustus's reign, with emphasis on the Muses.

There is very little understatement in this poem; the writer is deliberately overstating and expanding upon Wilmot's virtues while ignoring the less savory aspects of his reputation. The closest Behn comes to understatement is in line 12 when she says Wilmot attained a glorious name in spite of himself. Wilmot's self-sabotaging antics and drunken escapades did indeed interfere with his career.

Behn makes repeated allusions to Greek mythology, mentioning the Muses, the Stygian gods, and the poet Ovid.

Behn addresses the Muses, the Youths, the Beauties, the Cupids, and finally the World as a whole, commanding them to mourn the loss of "Strephon".

The quiver and the bow, Cupid's preferred weapon, are described as useless toys that can no longer do mischief. The mischief, and the desire to do it, is presented as an attribute of the quiver and bow.

The entire poem can be considered hyperbole, but the biggest example is when Behn suggests that, in Augustus's Rome, Wilmot would have been immortalized and worshipped as a god.

The word "sigh" is onomatopoeic.