POETRY – Terminology applied

Alliteration

“Birches” by Robert Frost

They click upon themselves

As the breeze rises, and turn many-colored

As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel.

Soon the sun’s warmth makes them shed crystal shells

Shattering and avalanching on the snow-crust—

This use of the “cr” sound mimics the sound of ice breaking and trees knocking against each other like they
would in the winter.

“To His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell

Had we but world enough, and time,

This coyness, lady, were no crime.

We would sit down, and think which way

To walk, and pass our long love’s day.

Notice, again, how the alliteration in this poem makes the romance pop from the text. The alliteration in
“long love” in particular is heralded for its romance.

“Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

And the balls like pulses beat;

For the sky and the sea, and the sea and the sky

Lay like a load on my weary eye

“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is a very long poem, so it is conceivable that Coleridge wanted to use
alliteration so that the poem would continue to roll off the tongue. He also used it to connect key themes
and symbols.
Allusions

From Greek Mythology: “Achilles’ heel” –weakness a person may have. Achilles was invulnerable except
for his heel (Achilles tendon).

From Literature: “Frankenstein” – Anything that threatens or destroys its creator; from Mary Shelley’s
novel.

“Jekyll and Hyde” – A person with two sides to his personality. From the novel of the same name.

Biblical allusions: “Judas” – a traitor: “Original Sin” – the idea that all men are innately sinful as a result of
Adam and Eve’s fall.

Definition of Pentameter

Pentameter is a literary device that can be defined as a line in verse or poetry that has five strong metrical
feet or beats. There are different forms of pentameter: iamb, trochaic, dactylic and anapestic. The most
commonly used pentameter in English is iambic. It also can be described as a line that consists of ten
syllables, where the first syllable is stressed, the second is unstressed, the third is stressed and so on until it
reaches the 10th line syllable.