Katherine Mansfield: Poems Literary Elements

Katherine Mansfield: Poems Literary Elements

Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View

The poem “A Little Boy’s Dream” is told from the perspective of a first person subjective point of view and narrator.

Form and Meter

The poem “A Little Girl's Prayer” is written in an iambic pentameter.

Metaphors and Similes

The main metaphor in the poem “Across the Red Sky” are the birds which are used here to represent women who suffered a great deal in their lives and who feel as if they will not be able to be happy unless they are dead.

Alliteration and Assonance

We have an alliteration in the lines “Sea and sky, sea and sky,/ Quietly on the deck I lie” in the poem “A Little Boy’s Dream”.

Irony

We have an irony in the poem “Chamomile Tea” in which the narrator lists elements which should make a person feel calm and yet which have the complete opposite effect on a person.

Genre

The poem “A New Hymn” is a comedic poem.

Setting

The action in the poem “A Little Boy’s Dream” takes place inside a boat during the course of an hour.

Tone

The tone in the poem “A Little Girl's Prayer” is a neutral one mixed with a religious tone.

Protagonist and Antagonist

The birds are the protagonists in the poem “Across the Red Sky” and the hunters are the antagonists.

Major Conflict

The major conflict in the poem “Autumn Song” is between sinners and those who try to live a righteous life.

Climax

The poem “A Little Girl’s Prayer” reaches its climax when the narrator describes the birds starting to sing.

Foreshadowing

N/A

Understatement

The title of the poem “A New Hymn” transmits the idea the poem will be a religious one. This is however an understatement as from the first line it becomes clear the poem is a comedic and ironic one.

Allusions

The main allusion in the poem “Countrywomen” is the idea that those who live in the country are less intelligent when compared with those living in the big cities.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

The term butterfly is used in the poem “Butterfly Laughter” to make reference to the fleeting joys of childhood.

Personification

We find a personification in the line “with the lovely bear-skin lining” in the poem “Autumn Song” when the narrator describes a coat.

Hyperbole

We have a hyperbole in the lines “But stiller, lighter, whose faint laughter/ Echoes the joy of the other” in the poem “A Little Girl’s Prayer”.

Onomatopoeia

We find an onomatopoeia in the line “then he cried” in the poem “A Little Boy’s Dream”.

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