Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
The action described in the poem "After making love in winter" is told from the perspective of a first-person subjective point of view.
Form and Meter
The poems are written in a free verse form.
Metaphors and Similes
The gun is used in the poem "Armor" as a metaphor for betrayal.
Alliteration and Assonance
We find alliteration in the poem "Beyond Harm" in the line "suddenly I understood his fondness for me was safe".
Irony
We find an ironic element in the poem "Armor" when the narrator describes her son as being the one who inflicted the most pain upon her.
Genre
"After making love in winter" is a meditative poem.
Setting
The action in the poem "Armor" takes place on a beach during present time.
Tone
The tone used in the poem "After making love in winter" is an accusatory one.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonists in "Beyond Harm" are the narrator and her father while the antagonist is death.
Major Conflict
The major conflict in the poem "The Cast" is between the desire to become better and the tendency to remain in a familiar spot.
Climax
The poem "The Cast" reaches its climax when the narrator's son is free from his cast.
Foreshadowing
The first stanza of the poem "Earlies Memory" foreshadows the later instance in which the narrator will mention the miracle of birth.
Understatement
No understatement can be found in any of the poems.
Allusions
One of the main allusions in the poem "The Cast" is the idea that sometimes pain is beneficial because it helps us become better people.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The light is used in the poem "Earliest Memory" as a general term to make reference to hope.
Personification
We have a personification in "Beyond Harm" in the line "his old mouths of disgust".
Hyperbole
We have a hyperbole in the poem "After making love in winter" in the line "a plate of iron laid down on my nerves".
Onomatopoeia
We have onomatopoeia in the poem "The Cast" in the line "the high scream of the saw".
