Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
The action in the poem is told from the perspective of a first-person subjective point of view.
Form and Meter
The poem is written in a heroic couplet form.
Metaphors and Similes
The term dust is used in the poem as a metaphor to make reference to the idea of degradation and corruption.
Alliteration and Assonance
We have an alliteration in the line "Lily-like, white as snow,".
Irony
One ironic idea is the way in which the narrator urges the reader to speak quietly as to not attract the attention of the woman. This idea is ironic because the narrator wants to be found by the woman and to be reunited with her.
Genre
The poem is an elegy.
Setting
The action described in the poem takes place during the middle of the night, in an unknown place.
Tone
The tone used in the poem is a fearful one.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist is the narrator and the antagonist is the woman.
Major Conflict
The major conflict is an internal one and is represented by the narrator's incapability to accept his sister's death.
Climax
The poem reaches its climax when the narrator reveals that the person who died was his sister.
Foreshadowing
In the first lines of the poem, the narrator mentioned a graveyard. These first lines are used here to foreshadow the death of the narrator's sister.
Understatement
N/A
Allusions
One of the main allusions we find here is that there is no life after death and as such a person who dies cannot see those who are left behind or help them in life.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The daisy is used throughout the poem as a way through which the narrator reminds his readers about the impending nature of death.
Personification
We have a personification in the line 'her bright golden hair/ Tarnished with rust,"
Hyperbole
We have a hyperbole in the lines "All my life's buried here,/ Heap earth upon it."
Onomatopoeia
We have an onomatopeia in the line "Speak gently, she can hear".
