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TJMF Publishing - Open Mike Cafe Editor's Desk Staff Editor Patty Zion |
Your Own Devices, Your Own Poem, Part Two
That Figures
By Patty Zion
Our study of poetic devices continues with an exploration of figures of speech. In a very real way, poetry would not be poetry without these techniques. Much of the wonder of the craft comes from using a figure of speech with flair.
Metaphor is the best-known figure of speech in poetry. In fact, most figures of speech are essentially metaphors used in contrasting ways. When we draw an analogy between two things or activities, we are using metaphor.
Alfred Noves uses three metaphors as he begins The Highwayman:
The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
Some metaphor, however, is much more subtle, and sometimes it is expressed as simile, which uses the word as or like to draw the analogy. William Wordsworth starts his poem Daffodils, with a simile:
I wandered lonely as a cloud . . .
The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost, uses a sustained metaphor; the entire poem uses the choosing of a road to represent the choices we make in life.
Synecdoche (sin ECK duh kee), a more specific figure of speech, uses one part of something to represent the whole - or vice versa. We use this device all the time, even in everyday conversation, without realizing it. We might refer to our daily bread, the shirt on our back, or having a roof over our head. In each case, we mean more than we say. We want a balanced diet, not only daily bread. We want an entire wardrobe, not only a shirt. And we definitely want a complete house, not only the roof! But everyone knows what we mean, and somehow the idea takes on more meaning because the more specific object is mentioned.
Using synecdoche in the opposite direction, we might say the city never sleeps when we are really referring to the people of the city. We say television is too violent when we mean that certain shows in particular are too violent. And we often say someone is in trouble with the law when we really mean they are in trouble with the police or the court system.
In poetry, synecdoche happens all the time. It is precisely what makes certain phrases so stabbing.
William Ross Wallace uses synecdoche in this opening line of The Hand That Rocks the Cradle:
Blessings on the hand of women!
We find another instance of synecdoche in since feeling is first by e.e. cummings:
wholly to be a fool
while Spring is in the world
my blood approves
Of course, it is not only his blood which approves, it is his entire being.
Personification, one of the most common poetic devices, assigns human qualities to an inanimate object or an abstract idea. Often, forces of nature become personified in poetry.
William Wordsworth personifies the sky and other natural things in There Was a Roaring in the Wind All Night, when he writes,
The sky rejoices in the morning’s birth.
My poem, Syrup Cycle, personifies a maple tree in four different ways, corresponding with nature’s seasons:
Maple branch of fifty years
drizzles autumn’s copper tears.
She has seen the saddest scenes.
Bittersweet, her torso leans.
Read the entire poem here:
http://www.tjmfpublishing.com/Bookpages/book-PZ.htm
Hyperbole (hye PURR boh lee) uses deliberate exaggeration to make a point. Common speech is ripe with hyperbole. In fact, we usually think in hyperbole, especially when we are angry or annoyed with something. Everybody was looking at me. I told you a million times. This is taking an eternity.
This device can make or break a poem, as it can sometimes seem overly dramatic or childish. However, skillful poets use hyperbole to underscore a point with the reader.
Look at the hyperbole in the opening lines of Edwin Arlington Robinson’s Credo:
I cannot find my way: there is no star
In all the shrouded heavens anywhere;
In 1837, in his Concord Hymn, Ralph Waldo Emerson spoke in hyperbole when he referred to The shot heard round the world.
For the beginning poet, hyperbole carries certain dangers, because it is essentially a lie. The wise poet had better be sure to justify the lie he or she tells in a poem! And the reader needs to be on the poet’s side before hyperbole will feel credible. When we use hyperbole, we ask the reader to play along, and if we carefully construct the remainder of the poem, the game can be grand.
Exercise:
Reread one of your own poems - one which needs to be completed or perfected - looking for any of these poetic devices:
Metaphor / simile
Synecdoche
Personification
Hyperbole
If appropriate, add one of these devices to the poem. Then take the poem in its original form, and add a different device from the list. Decide which version you like best, and complete the poem to keep the voice consistent throughout.
Figures of speech can go a long way toward making any poem more coherent and poetic. Used wisely, these devices will wake up your work and carry you through to the next level of poetic skill. It’s not really so difficult. Go figure!
Staff Editor Patty Zion welcomes your editing questions and comments. You may reach her by e-mail at