Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
The poems are related from the perspective of a first person subjective point of view.
Form and Meter
Because the poems are modernist ones there is no form and meter.
Metaphors and Similes
In the poem "Another Spring’’ the narrator compares spring to the new ways a person can die. The comparison is strange because spring is commonly associated with rebirth not death.
Alliteration and Assonance
We find an alliteration in the line "Death in us goes on testing the wild chance of living’’.
Irony
In the poem "The ache of marriage’’ the narrator talks about how she feels imprisoned by marriage. Ironically, the narrator also notes how this imprisonment brings her happiness and makes her feel complete.
Genre
Meditative poems
Setting
There is no setting mentioned in the poems.
Tone
The tone used in most of the poems is a neutral one.
Protagonist and Antagonist
In the poem "To the Snake’’ the protagonist is the narrator and the antagonist is the snake around her neck.
Major Conflict
In most of the poems, the major conflict is between life and death.
Climax
The poem "What they were like?’’ reaches its climax when the narrator mentions how the children were killed.
Foreshadowing
The title of the poem "What they were like?’’ foreshadows the changes described in the poem by the narrator.
Understatement
No understatement can be found in the poems.
Allusions
One of the things alluded by the poet in her work is the idea that mankind tries to fight against death. Despite their efforts, the narrator claims humans have no way of winning against this enemy.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The term "ark’’ is used in the poem "The ache of marriage’’ as a general term to make reference to marriage.
Personification
We find a personification in the line "the moon wrestles the dark window’’.
Hyperbole
We find a hyperbole in the line "their light hearts turned to stone’’.
Onomatopoeia
We find onomatopoeia in the line "you hissed to me’’.
