Last Poems (1939) Literary Elements

Last Poems (1939) Literary Elements

Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View

The events in "The Black Tower" are recalled from the perspective of a third person subjective point of view.

Form and Meter

The poem "In Tara's Hall" is written in a heroic couplet form.

Metaphors and Similes

The little girl in the poem "Politics" is used in the poem as a metaphor to make reference to those people who refuse to learn anything about the way in which their country is run. Because of this, they resemble a small child who can be manipulated and who has no knowledge about the real world.

Alliteration and Assonance

We find an alliteration in the poem "Under Ben Bulben" in the line "here's the gist of what they mean".

Irony

The irony in the poem "In Tara's Hall" is the way in which the main character asked to die even though he had a happy and fulfilling life.

Genre

The poem "The Black Tower" is a meditative poem on death.

Setting

The action in the poem "In Tara's Hall" takes place inside a room in one of the most prestigious universities in England, during the span of a few hours.

Tone

The tone used in "Under Ben Bulben" is a violent and accusatory one.

Protagonist and Antagonist

The protagonist in the poem "Under Ben Bulben" is death and the antagonist is the fear of death.

Major Conflict

The major conflict in "Politics" is described as being between the need to know more about how a government runs and the reluctance to put in the effort to learn about it.

Climax

The poem "Politics" reaches its climax when the narrator expresses his wish to take the small girl into his arms.

Foreshadowing

The interest in spiritual enlightenment described in the poem "Under Ben Bulben" is foreshadowed in the first part of the poem in which the narrator mentioned a famous poem by Percy Shelley entitled "Atlas".

Understatement

At the end of the poem "Politics", the small girl expresses her belief that those who are involved in politics are decent men who will always tell the truth. The narrator then points out this is an understatement because honesty cannot come from politicians.

Allusions

In the second stanza of the poem "The Black Tower", the narrator describes the dead as standing upright in their tombs and looking at the living. The position of the bodies is an allusion made here with the purpose of transmitting the idea that the dead were unable to find peace in death and the possibility they were still affected by the events they experienced while they were still living.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

The idea to die in the poem "In Tara's Hall" is used in the poem as a general term to make reference to the absence of love.

Personification

We have personification in the third stanza of the poem "The Black Tower" in the line "Those banners come to bribe or threaten".

Hyperbole

We find a hyperbole in the poem "In Tara's Hall" in the line "Summoned the generations of his house".

Onomatopoeia

We have onomatopoeia in the line "whisper that a man's a fool" in the poem "The Black Tower".

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