John Cornford: Poems Literary Elements

John Cornford: Poems Literary Elements

Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View

The poem “Sergei Mironovitch Kirov” is told from the perspective of a third person objective point of view.

Form and Meter

The poem “Full Moon At Tierz: Before The Storming Of Huesca” is written in an iambic pentameter.

Metaphors and Similes

In the first stanza of “Full Moon At Tierz: Before The Storming Of Huesca” the past is compared with a mountain which cannot be destroyed. This comparison transmits the idea that humanity has no power over the past and as a result, all they can do is try to understand it and analyze it.

Alliteration and Assonance

We find an alliteration in the poem “A Letter from Aragon” in the lines “This is a quiet sector of a quiet front/ There is no poison gas and no H. E”.

Irony

An ironic element appears in the poem “A Letter from Aragon” in which he narrator describes the burial of a fellow soldier. What is ironic is the frequent description of the area as being a “quiet” area, thus making the death of the soldier an unusual event.

Genre

The poem “Sergei Mironovitch Kirov” is a meditative poem.

Setting

The action described in the poem “Full Moon At Tierz: Before The Storming Of Huesca” takes place in the distant past near an imposing mountain.

Tone

The tone in the poem “Sergei Mironovitch Kirov” is a violent and tragic one.

Protagonist and Antagonist

The protagonist in “to Margot Heinemann” is the narrator and the antagonist is the distance separating the two lovers.

Major Conflict

The major conflict in the poem “Full Moon At Tierz: Before The Storming Of Huesca” is between the past and the present.

Climax

The poem “A Letter from Aragon” reaches its climax when the village where the narrator is situated is bombed and almost completely destroyed.

Foreshadowing

We find a foreshadowing element in “to Margot Heinemann” a poem in which the narrator describes the dangers he encounters while on the battlefield. This is used to foreshadow the narrator’s death which will occur not long after the letter was written.

Understatement

In the second stanza of the poem “Full Moon At Tierz: Before The Storming Of Huesca”, the narrator claims the present is just the future which we form with our own hands. This line transmits the idea that humans are in charge when it comes to their future. This is however an understatement as in the fourth stanza the narrator describes the future as something we have no control over.

Allusions

In the poem “Sergei Mironovitch Kirov”, the narrator describes the presence of a long shadow which, despite time passing by, does not disappear but rather grows more prominent. The shadow is an allusion made here to the way in which the violent events which took place under Stalin’s rule will never be forgotten. In fact, as the narrator points out, these events will only be revealed more and more as time goes by, thus making the shadow appear even more accentuated and imposing.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

N/A

Personification

We find a personification in the poem “A Letter from Aragon” in the line “in the unfriendly earth”.

Hyperbole

We find a hyperbole in the poem “Sergei Mironovitch Kirov” in the line “nothing is ever certain, nothing is ever safe”.

Onomatopoeia

We find an onomatopoeia in the poem “Full Moon At Tierz: Before The Storming Of Huesca” in the line “a glacier gripped the mountain wall”.

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