Don Paterson: Selected Poems Literary Elements

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Don Paterson: Selected Poems Literary Elements

Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View

First-person perspective

Form and Meter

Iambic pentameter

Metaphors and Similes

The rockpool in the poem 'Why Do You Stay up So Late' is used as a metaphor for having fun.

Alliteration and Assonance

There is assonance in the line ‘with all those stones you’d stolen from the shore.’

Irony

The main paradox is the mystery of life in the poem ‘The Dead.’

Genre

Allegorical and narrative

Setting

Written in the context of the significance of love

Tone

Optimistic and sad

Protagonist and Antagonist

The protagonist is Don Miguel

Major Conflict

The main conflict is that the poet’s lover stays up late.

Climax

The climax is when the poet accepts that everything is orderly with the lie in the poem 'The Lie.'

Foreshadowing

The secret color in the poem ‘Why Do You Stay up So Late’ foreshadows drama between the poet and her lover.

Understatement

The power of creativity is underestimated in the poem ‘The Unicorn.’

Allusions

The poem ‘The Wreck’ alludes to the significance of love between two people.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

The term 'invigorators' is a metonymy for oiling the dirt.

Personification

The rodent in the poem ‘The Rat’ is given human abilities.

Hyperbole

N/A

Onomatopoeia

N/A

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Study Guide for Don Paterson: Selected Poems

Don Paterson: Selected Poems study guide contains a biography of Don Paterson, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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