Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
The poem “The Disavowal” is told from the perspective of a first person subjective point of view.
Form and Meter
The poems have no form and meter because they are written in free verse.
Metaphors and Similes
The tavern is used in the poem “In the Old Tavern” as a metaphor to suggest how degraded and depraved a country can become and how difficult it can be in this situation for a person to remain true to themselves.
Alliteration and Assonance
We find an alliteration in the line “Even the walls and even the children” in the poem “Iv-Letter-Word”.
Irony
We find an ironic element in the poem “Jerusalem Is Arab Nationalism's Bride” when the narrator claims that even though the two nations are now united, there is less union between them than it was when they were at war with one another.
Genre
“The Disavowal” is a narrative poem through which the narrator tries to deal with his son’s death.
Setting
The action described in the poem “In the Old Tavern” takes place inside a dirty and darken tavern during the course of one evening.
Tone
The tone used in the poem “Jerusalem Is Arab Nationalism's Bride” is a negative one.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist in the poem “Iv-Letter-Word” is the narrator and the antagonist is the character simply referred here as “you”.
Major Conflict
The major conflict in the poem “The Disavowal” is between life and death.
Climax
The poem “In the Old Tavern” reaches its climax when the narrator realizes his place is not among the people around him but that it is too late to leave.
Foreshadowing
In the beginning of “In the Old Tavern” the narrator admits the reason he went there was to get as drunk as possible. His confession foreshadows the later events which will be caused by intoxicated people.
Understatement
N/A
Allusions
The main allusion in the poem “The Disavowal” is the idea that grieving is something everyone should allow themselves to do after they lost a loved one because the healing process cannot occur without it.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The term conflict is used in the poem “Jerusalem Is Arab Nationalism's Bride” to make reference to an ideological war as well as an actual war which torn the lives of the normal people apart.
Personification
We find a personification in the line “the bench is washing the dead move” in the poem “Iv-Letter-Word”.
Hyperbole
We have a hyperbole in the line “Count the white hairs I reaped from your life” in the poem “The Disavowal”.
Onomatopoeia
The line “Joggling at the [noise of the] drum and trumpet” in the poem “Jerusalem Is Arab Nationalism's Bride” contains an onomatopoeia.
