Sonia Sanchez: Poems Literary Elements

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

The poems are written in blank verse.

We have a metaphor in the poem "Haiku [i count the morning]" in which the narrator describes herself as looking at the stars. The stars in this context are a metaphor and they represent the narrator's hopes and dreams.

We have an alliteration in "Haiku [for you]" in the line "speech and breath, loving you is".

No ironic elements can be found in the analyzed poems.

The poems are meditative ones.

The action described in the poem "Sonku" takes place inside the narrator's room.

The tone used in the poem "Ballad" is an accusatory one.

The protagonist in the poem "Sonku" is the narrator and the antagonist is the lover.

The major conflict in the poem "Sonku" is between desire and reality.

The action in the poem "Ballad" reaches its climax when the rain stops and the sun is visible once more.

At the beginning of the poem "Haiku [for you]," the narrator describes her feelings of love as being like air. This description foreshadows the way in which love will be presented as being paramount to one's survival.

At the beginning of the poem "Sonku" the narrator transmits the idea that she has power over what other people can give her. This is later proven to be an understatement when the narrator admits that she can only receive what others are willing to give.

The main allusion found in the poem "Haiku [i count the morning]" is the idea that the narrator's hopes and dreams did not come to pass.

The term heartbeat is used in the poem "14 haiku" as a general term to make reference to the passing of time.

We have a personification in the poem "Ballad" in the line "the rain exploding".

We have a hyperbole in the poem "14 haiku" in the lines "your pores/ wild stars embracing".

We have an onomatopoeia in the lines "young Chicago/ stutterer whistling" in the poem "14 haiku".