Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
The speaker of the poem is a priest who provided spiritual guidance to the now-deceased Felix Randal during his last days..
Form and Meter
Petrarchan sonnet with an accentual meter.
Metaphors and Similes
The speaker uses metaphor to demonstrate the vulnerability of the human body through the terms “mould” and “fleshed.”
Alliteration and Assonance
Alliteration appears in the first line to emphasize the protagonist’s occupation: “Felix Randal the farrier.” In describing Felix’s former vibrancy and physicality the priest says “Mould of man, big-boned and hardy-handsome.”
Irony
In an instance of situational irony, Felix Randal was a robust and steadfast young man, but the disease incapacitated him and killed him.
Genre
Sonnet
Setting
The poem is set after the priest learns of Randal’s death, as he is grieving. It then switches to a period before the young man’s death when the priest offered spiritual guidance in his sickness.
Tone
Dismal; Conversational; Contemplative
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist is the title character as the speaker remembers his life before death. The antagonist is the sickness that took away a young life.
Major Conflict
The priest is unable to reconcile the reality that a vibrant young man can die before reaching his full potential.
Climax
The climax of the poem reaches the point the priest manages to steer Felix away from his cynical perspective about his situation.
Foreshadowing
The priest mentions Felix’s occupation and fitness in the first two lines which foreshadows the praises about his abilities in the last stanza.
Understatement
N/A
Allusions
The “fatal four disorders” references the medical diagnosis derived from the medieval theory of the four humors; blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The speaker uses the synecdoche “My tongue” to refer to his words of wisdom and the scriptural teachings.
Personification
The priest personifies the illness by asserting the “Sickness broke him.”
Hyperbole
N/A
