Crow : From the Life and Songs of the Crow Literary Elements

The poems are presented from the perspective of a third person subjective point of view.

The poems are written in an iambic pentameter.

In the poem ‘’Crow Communes’’, the narrator compares God with a mountain on which the Crow sat. The comparison also appears in the Bible and has the purpose of transmitting the idea that God is powerful and that his will can’t be changed easily.

We find alliteration in the lines "He turned his back and he marched away from the sea /As a crucified man cannot move.’’

The majority of the poems in the collection are ironic because they are a direct attack addressed to the Bible teachings. In the poem ‘’Crow’s first Lesson’’ for example, God tries to teach the Crow the meaning of the word ‘’love’’. Instead of learning the meaning of the word, the Crow produces the opposite of love and brings into existence a plethora of monsters that affect the world in a negative way.

Meditative poems

The poem ‘’Crow Communes’’ takes place on a mountain.

The tone used in most of the poems is a depressing one.

The protagonist is the Crow and the antagonist is God.

The major conflict in the poem ‘’Crow’s first Lesson’’ is between God and the Crow. Here, God tries to teach the Crow the meaning of the word ‘’Love’’ but is unsuccessful and the Crow only manages to make things worse by bringing into existence all kind of harmful elements. Despite this, the Crow is not presented in a negative image as the narrator is to some extent even protective of the crow and tries to picture the Crow in a sympathetic manner.

The poem ‘’The Crow’s first Lesson’ reaches its climax when God decides to leave after he realizes he will never be able to teach the Crow the meaning of the word Love.

The titles of the poems are important because they foreshadow the main ideas presented in the poems and the subjects discussed.

No understatement can be found in the poems.

One of the things alluded in the poem ‘’Crow’s first Lesson’’ is the idea that God’s power is limited. This idea is alluded through the stanza in which God is powerless in stopping the Crow from creating the evils in the world and when he is also presented as being powerless to stop the man and the woman from fighting one another.

The term ‘’sea’’ is used in the poems to make reference to God.

We find a personification in the line ‘’ the silent house.’’

We find a hyperbole in the line ‘’ clouding their spores, the virus of God.’’.

We find an onomatopoeia in the line ‘’ And Crow retched again,’’ in the poem ‘’Crow’s first Lesson’’.