Terrance Hayes: Poetry Literary Elements

Terrance Hayes: Poetry Literary Elements

Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View

A first-person objective point of view

Form and Meter

Free verse poem

Metaphors and Similes

A simile is present in the line, 'are rubbed by light, smooth as wood, the lurk’ in the poem ‘The Golden Shovel.’ The narrator compares the cute sticks to the smoothness of the wood.

Alliteration and Assonance

Assonance is the line, 'come to see us pluck as Elizabeth Cotton intended’ in the poem ‘New Folk.’

Irony

There is an irony in the opening line in the poem 'Stick Elegy' when the narrator says,' The dead were still singing Turn the lights down low.’ The statement contradicts the reality and expectations of readers.

Genre

Narrative poem

Setting

"Folkstyle" dialect

Tone

The tone is candid, and the mood is reflective.

Protagonist and Antagonist

The protagonist of ‘Ode to Big Trend’ is Big Trend.

Major Conflict

There is a conflict between Big Trend and his boss, who seems unwilling to pay due in time.

Climax

The climax is in ‘Stick Elegy’ when Stick jumps off the Yellow Bridge and breaks his ankle.

Foreshadowing

The narrator's confusing childhood foreshadows the complexity of adulthood in the poem 'The Golden Shovel.'

Understatement

The power in hands is understated in the poem ‘Ode to Big Trend.’

Allusions

The poem ‘Mystic Bounce’ alludes to the need to fix the world.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

The State Championship Trophy is used as a metonymy for reward.

Personification

The corpse in ‘Stick Elegy’ is incarnated.

Hyperbole

N/A

Onomatopoeia

N/A

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