Hélas! Literary Elements

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Hélas! Literary Elements

Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View

Speaker: I , first-person point of view

Form and Meter

Sonnet

Metaphors and Similes

Metaphor: "To drift with every passion till my soul Is a stringed lute on which all winds can play," "Methinks my life is a twice-written scroll"

Alliteration and Assonance

Mine ancient wisdom, and austere control?

Irony

N/A

Genre

Love poetry

Setting

The mind of the speaker

Tone

Frustrated

Protagonist and Antagonist

Protagonist: Speaker, Antagonist: Love

Major Conflict

The frustration of the speaker's relationship with his loved one.

Climax

"I did but touch the honey of romance — And must I lose a soul's inheritance?" The end.

Foreshadowing

N/A

Understatement

N/A

Allusions

"Struck one clear chord to reach the ears of God: Is that time dead? lo! with a little rod" Allusions to the Bible.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

To drift with every passion till my soul Is a stringed lute on which all winds can play,

Personification

"all winds can play"

Hyperbole

Methinks my life is a twice-written scroll Scrawled over on some boyish holiday With idle songs for pipe and virelay,

Onomatopoeia

"Lo!"

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Study Guide for Hélas!

Hélas! study guide contains a biography of Oscar Wilde, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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Essays for Hélas!

Hélas! essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Hélas! by Oscar Wilde.