C.P. Cavafy: Poetry Literary Elements

In the poem 'The Afternoon Sun,' the speaker is Cavafy. It is written from the first person perspective, and even reveals the changing thoughts of the speaker, observing the room, for example 'on the right - no, opposite - a wardrobe with a mirror.'

'The Pawn,' is written in four irregular stanzas, one long stanza, a couplet, a tercet and a quintet,, and is in blank verse.

Cavafy uses the metaphor 'a conspicuous man of power with your retinue,' to describe his 'soul,' in the poem 'Ides of March.'

The poet uses alliteration and sibilance in the lines ' They've heard a frightening sound, / a deadly sound coming up the stairs / iron footsteps that shake the staircase; / and faint with fear, the miserable Lares,' in the poem'The Footsteps,' to describe the noise and presence of those footsteps approaching.

The lines 'However, the handicap and the hardship / are that these Reformers make / a big story out of everything. / (It would be a blessing if one never / needed them.)' in the poem 'In a Famous Greek Colony, 200 B.C,' is an example or ironic sarcasm.

The poem 'In a Famous Greek Colony, 200 B.C.' is an historical drama poem.

The poem 'Ina Famous Greek Colony, 200 B.C. is set, as the title says in 200 B.C. in a Greek colony.

The poem 'In Sparta,' starts with a sad, worried tone, but ends positively.

The protagonists in 'The Enemies,' are 'the Consul,' and 'three Sophists,' and the antagonists are their 'contemporary enemies,' and even more so, 'the new sophists

The major conflict in the poem 'The Pawn,' comes when 'marchers hurl slanted lances,' towards the pawn and 'the fortresses strike at him with their wide / flanks.'

The climax of the poem 'The Pawn,' is the pawn's ability to 'reach the last line in time,' at which point he is 'saved from all perils,' even though later it is revealed 'he approaches his own death.'

The dialogue of 'the Consul,' with 'three sophists,' in the poem 'The Enemies,' foreshadows the content of the poem. The Consul says '"Fame makes envious / ones. / Rivals write works. / You have enemies.'

In the poem 'The Afternoon Sun,' the speaker simply states '[...] we separated / for a week only... And then - / That week became forever.' This disconnection of their relationship is relayed as if simply for a week, even though it becomes longer.

Cavafy refers to 'Nero,' who 'lies deep in sleep, in the poem 'The Footsteps.'

In the poem, 'Theodotos,' the bringing of 'miserable Pompey's head,' becomes a metaphor to represent something like this happening in everyday life: 'Maybe this very moment Theodotos - [...] is carrying into some neighbor's tidy house / an equally repulsive head.'

In 'The Pawn,' Cavafy personifies the chess piece, the Pawn, that 'finds his way / and manages to reach the last line in time.'

The lines 'Now that you've wasted your life here, in this small corner, / you've destroyed it everywhere in the world,' in the poem 'The City,' are an example of hyperbole.

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