Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
The poems are related from the perspective of a third-person objective narrator.
Form and Meter
The poems are written in an iambic pentameter.
Metaphors and Similes
The term ‘’wings’’ is used in the poem ‘’Cassandra’’ as a metaphor for freedom.
Alliteration and Assonance
We find alliteration in the lines ‘’ when will you break my wings or leave them utterly free to scale heaven endlessly?’’
Irony
The ironic element in the poem "Cassandra’’ is that even though the narrator knew she was never going to reach Heaven if she gave in to her desires, she still craved the experience offered by love.
Genre
Most of the poems are retellings of ancient Greek stories from the mythology.
Setting
The action of the poems takes place in the ancient past of Greece.
Tone
The tone used in most of the poems is a tragic one.
Protagonist and Antagonist
In the poem "Helen,’’ the antagonists are the Greek people and the protagonist is Helen.
Major Conflict
The major conflict in the poem "Cassandra’’ is between the woman and the feelings she experiences.
Climax
The poem "Helen’’ reaches its climax when Helen dies.
Foreshadowing
The title of the poem "Cassandra’’ foreshadows the events described in the third stanza, namely the way Cassandra was treated by the people who knew her and who lived in the same town as her.
Understatement
In the beginning of the poem "Cities’’ the narrator hints the idea overcrowded cities are affecting humans in a negative way. This is an understatement because in the later stanzas the narrator describes the cities as cells imprisoning everyone.
Allusions
In the poem "Helen’’, the main character is described as being extremely beautiful and as being almost like a statue. Through this, the narrator alludes to the idea that Helen was of divine descent and thus her beauty was out of this world.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
In the poem "Helen’’, the narrator uses the term "Greece" to make reference to the people who lived during the same time when Helen lived.
Personification
We find personification in the poem "Cities’’ in the line "cities grew faint’’.
Hyperbole
We find a hyperbole in the line "Is our task the less sweet /that the larvae still sleep in their cells?'' in the poem "Cities''.
Onomatopoeia
N/A
