Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
Second-person narrative
Form and Meter
Free verse poem
Metaphors and Similes
The debris is used metaphorically to represent obstacles in one's success journey.
Alliteration and Assonance
The assonance of /oo/ is in the line "you knew / what you had to do."
Irony
The primary paradox is that no outside force can concur with self-determination and trust.
Genre
Narrative poem
Setting
Set inside a house out to the night in the context of self-reliance
Tone
Melancholic
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist is the narrator and the antagonist is not mentioned because the speaker is addressing herself.
Major Conflict
The major conflict is when you come face to face with obstacles like debris and the strong wind to prevent you from moving forward.
Climax
The climax comes when one manages to stand and proceed to discover self-voice despite the discouragement from negative voices.
Foreshadowing
The successful completion of the journey is foreshadowed by self-reliance.
Understatement
The voices’ ability to change the speaker’s life are understated at the beginning but towards the end of the poem, the very voices save the life of the speaker.
Allusions
The voices in the poem allude to hopeless people who see no hope.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
“Wild night” is a synecdoche for life obstacles and voices of discouragement.
Personification
N/A
Hyperbole
Hyperbole in the line “The stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds.”
Onomatopoeia
N/A
