William Cullen Bryant: Poems Literary Elements

Summer Wind is written from the first person personal point of view as a narrative about the wind in the summer. Cullen writes using the pronoun 'I' and refers to the wind in his narrative as 'he.'

Summer Wind is written in one long monologue in blank verse, allowing Cullen to express his thoughts naturally.

Cullen uses the metaphor 'motionless pillars of the brazen heaven,' to describe the 'bright clouds,' as almost majestic features of the sky.

Cullen employs alliteration in the opening lines of The Yellow Violet in 'when beechen buds begin to swell / And woods the blue-bird's warble know.'

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Summer Wind is a nature poem.

The setting of Summer Wind is on 'a sultry day,' in nature, where the protagonist is under 'the canopies' of their 'dwelling' in the shade, possibly in a cave. It is summer time.

The tone in the poem The Death of Lincoln is mournful.

The protagonists of Summer Wind are the speaker, William Cullen, and the summer wind itself.

The major conflict in The Battle-Field is described as 'the battle cloud,' involving 'fiery hearts and armed hands.'

The climax of the poem The Murdered Traveller is mentioned within the first stanza, 'the murdered traveller's bones were found.' This being the climax of the events within the poem, a description of how he was found and how he died, as well as his parents' reactions follow on from this point.

'The pine bending his proud top,' in the distance, 'on yonder woody ridge,' foreshadows the arrival of the wind.

In The Maiden's Sorrow, the poet refers to his 'poor father, old and gray,' that 'slumbers beneath the churchyard stone,' meaning he is dead. The euphemistic description of death as 'slumber' is understating the sadness and loss within the death of the poet's father.

The whole poem, The Death of Lincoln, alludes to the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

In The Battle-Field, 'the life-blood of her brave,' the pronoun her referring to 'the land,' represents the warriors that died on the land, on the battle-field.

The personification of the wind in the poem Summer Wind, reveals the characteristics of this wind by presenting it as a being: 'He is come.' William Cullen describes the nature of wind as able to carry sounds and smells in this way, for example in 'all the green herbs / are stirring in his breath.'

In the poem The Battle-Field, the verb 'gushed,' is used to describe the 'life-blood of [the] brave,' and is repeated in the next line. This verb exaggerates the bloodshed, making it seem like flood of blood. This is to emphasize the great loss incurred in battle.

Cullen uses onomatopoeia and sibilance to describe the 'rustling of young boughs and sound of swaying branches, and the voice of distant waterfalls,' allowing the reader to hear the waterfall pounding and the wind in the branches of the trees.