Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
First-person subjective point of view
Form and Meter
Modernist poem
Metaphors and Similes
In the poem ‘Old Fingers, Shining Rings,’ the shining ring is a metaphor for love and perseverance.
Alliteration and Assonance
Alliteration is in the line ‘The rings, unfussy plain silver, still shine’ in the poem ‘Old Fingers, Shining Rings.’
Irony
The main paradox is in the poem ‘Mrs. Rowley’ where Old-gas-bag goes to the grocery to listen to gossip.
Genre
Narrative poem
Setting
No specific setting since most of the poems is meditative.
Tone
The tone is benevolent, and the mood is capricious.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonists are Elvis Presley in Elvis Dead, Mrs. Rowley, and Mr. Fox.
Major Conflict
In the poem ‘The Gravediggers,’ there is a conflict between the father and son who are doing injustice to the cat and its kittens.
Climax
The climax comes in the poem ‘Mrs. Rowley’ when the narrator reveals that her true purpose for coming to the grocery shop is to catch up with the latest gossip.
Foreshadowing
Her perseverance and pain foreshadow the narrator's mother's love.
Understatement
In the poem 'Old Fingers, Shining Rings,' the power of love is understated.
Allusions
The poems ‘Departure Gate and Mrs. Rowley’ allude to the narrator’s relationship with people close to him.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The old fingers are used as a metonymy for the years lived.
Personification
The rings in “Old Fingers, Shining Rings’ are personified.
Hyperbole
N/A
Onomatopoeia
N/A
