The Octopus Museum Literary Elements

The Octopus Museum Literary Elements

Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View

The poems are told from the perspective from a first-person speaker, who is also a mother.

Form and Meter

Prose-poems

Metaphors and Similes

The sea is a metaphor for the poet's isolation and her feelings of being an outcast.

Alliteration and Assonance

"All paradise is performance for people who pay."

Irony

In the world of this poetry collection, "Octopodes" have taken over and believe that humans are too unintelligent to understand them.

Genre

Poetry collection

Setting

Apocalyptic future

Tone

Philosophical and insightful

Protagonist and Antagonist

The speaker of the poems and the mother is the protagonist, while issues such as climate change act as an antagonist.

Major Conflict

The major conflict is the fact that the "octopodes" have taken over.

Climax

Each poem has its own climax.

Foreshadowing

The author foreshadows issues we might face if we don't change our attitude towards climate change.

Understatement

The author argues that currently humanity understates the problems we are facing.

Allusions

Shaughnessy alludes to the issue of climate change.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

The rulers are known as "the Octopodes."

Personification

The sun and wind are personified as having "power."

Hyperbole

N/A

Onomatopoeia

N/A

Update this section!

You can help us out by revising, improving and updating this section.

Update this section

After you claim a section you’ll have 24 hours to send in a draft. An editor will review the submission and either publish your submission or provide feedback.

Cite this page