One-Bedroom Solo Literary Elements

One-Bedroom Solo Literary Elements

Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View

The action in the poem "Poet in a Shade of Jade" is told from the perspective of a first-person subjective point of view.

Form and Meter

"Submit / Resist" has no form and meter because it was written in blank verse.

Metaphors and Similes

The main metaphor in "A Motherless Child" is the orphaned child described as being dangerous for society. The child is used in this context as a metaphor to suggest the idea that those who have nothing an no one to lose will often engage in reckless behavior because they no longer care what will happen to them.

Alliteration and Assonance

We have an alliteration in the poem "Jody" in the line "I’ve got the blues ‘cause Jody don’t love me no more".

Irony

We find an irony in the poem "Poet in a Shade of Jade" where the narrator claims she is jealous of those who are poor and who do not have any money because they are happy. The ironic idea is the fact that these people are happy despite struggling to live and to have what they need to survive.

Genre

"Submit / Resist" is a meditative poem.

Setting

Because the poems are meditative ones, there is no setting.

Tone

The tone used in "Poet in a Shade of Jade" is a criticizing one.

Protagonist and Antagonist

The protagonist in the poem "Good Morning Blues" is the black man and the antagonist is the police.

Major Conflict

The major conflict in the poem "Tired" is between racism and the desire for equality.

Climax

"A Motherless Child" reaches its climax when the narrator addresses the reader directly and tells the reader not to associate himself with an orphan child.

Foreshadowing

There is no foreshadowing in any of the poems.

Understatement

In the poem "Tired" the narrator claims that those who work hard should be allowed to rest and recuperate. This is, however, an understatement as the narrator later describes the activities in which the people who spent all their lives working were forced to continue to do.

Allusions

One of the main allusions we find in the poem "Submit / Resist" is the idea that education does not make a person independent but rather more susceptible to be controlled by the higher powers. Consequently, the students are described in this poem as all standing in a neat line, afraid to assert their identity and their uniqueness.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

The term blues in used in the poem "Good Morning Blues" as a general term to make reference to the depressive state one person may find himself at one point during his life.

Personification

We have a personification in "A Motherless Child" in the line "the streets loving him tenderly".

Hyperbole

The lines "I was gonna go hear you read/ from your new collection of /unpaid bills" from the poem "Poet in a Shade of Jade" contains a hyperbole.

Onomatopoeia

We find an onomatopoeia in the line "all singing the same song" in the poem "Submit / Resist".

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