The Medal Literary Elements

The poem is told from the perspective of a third person objective point of view.

The poem is composed out of seven distinctive stanzas and is written in written in a heroic couplet form.

The medal is the most important metaphor used by the narrator in the poem and it is also the element described in the most vivid details. The medal is used here as a metaphor for corruption among politicians and how instead of having to suffer because they were looking for their own interests the people in question almost always ended up being praised by a fooled society.

We have an alliteration in the lines “so golden to the sight,/ So base within, so counterfeit and light.”

An ironic element appears in the first stanza when the narrator claims that even though the subject of his poem is seen by the country as a real hero and patriot, he is in fact a cowards man who wants nothing more but to protect his own interests.

Satirical poem

Because of the nature of the poem , the narrator does not mention a place and time when the actions take place, focusing instead on criticizing the main character.

The tone used by the author in the poem is a critic and also mocking one.

Because this is a satirical poem with highly critical undertones, there are protagonists or antagonists present.

The major conflict is between perception and reality.

The poem reaches its climax in the sixth stanza when the narrator addresses the figure depicted in the coin directly.

The narrator describes in the first lines of the poem the medal as being “stupid” and unworthy of receiving praise. This description foreshadows the later parts in the poem when the narrator will attack directly the person portrayed on the coin.

When the narrator claims in the second stanza that the political leaders are looking out for those who gave them power is an understatement because later the narrator describes the same political leaders as wanting nothing more but make sure they have everything they want while also keeping the general population under their influence.

One of the ideas alluded in the poem is that there are no good-hearted politicians looking for the greater good. The narrator argues that this is happening because every politician ends up having a lot of power and that power corrupts everyone it touches, without fail.

The term “idiot” is used in the poem as a general way of describing the ruling class and the political leaders of his day.

We find a personification in the line “the Polish medal (…) a monster”.

We find a hyperbole in the lines “So Samson to his foe his force confess’d,/ And, to be shorn, lay slumbering on her breast.”

We find an onomatopoeia in the line “whispered in the corners”.