Thomas Merton: Poems Literary Elements

Omniscient third-person subjective point of view

Conversational and dialogical poem

The simile in the line, ‘‘my fasts shall live like willows where you died’ in the poem ‘For My Brother-Missing In Action 1943.” The other simile is in the poem "A Dirge" when the narrator says: “Will look when the betrayer laughs in the desert like a broken monument."

The alliteration is in the line, “My eyes are flowers for your tomb.”

The main paradox is that religious hypocrisy is a tall order because some religious people take advantage of the less fortunate.

Spiritual poem

Written in the context of God’s superiority over the world

The tone is tense, and the mood is disheartening.

The narrator is the protagonist in the poems “Landscape” and “An Elegy for Five Old Ladies.” The antagonist is Mrs. Watson.

The major conflict is in the poem “An Elegy for Five Old Ladies” when all the old ladies die in an accident. According to the narrator, their death is untimely and unfair.

The climax is in the poem “Landscape” when the child takes his pencil and draws the person he calls mother. The poem is symbolic because it illustrates the unity of purpose.

The luxurious life of aristocrats foreshadows the wastage of public resources. In the poem “East With Ibn Battuta,” the narrator says: “In the great cemetery They build chambers Pavilions Hire singers To chant the Koran Day and night among the tombs With pleasant voices.”

The impact of death is understated in the poem “For My Brother-Missing In Action.”

The poem “For My Brother-Missing In Action” alludes to the grief of losing a loved one.

Silver rings in the poem “East With Ibn Battuta” are used as metonymy for aristocrats' wastage of public resources.

The tombs are personified in the poem as a tormentor.

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The narrator writes, “bell rung too loud and too late.”