Tableau (Countee Cullen poem)

Tableau (Countee Cullen poem) Literary Elements

Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View

The poem is told from a third-person point of view. The speaker does not appear or identify themselves in the poem. Their voice is characterized by a rich use of natural imagery and a clear affection for the couple they are describing.

Form and Meter

The poem consists of four quatrains with an ABAB rhyme scheme. The poem is written in ballad meter, alternating lines of iambic trimeter and tetrameter.

Metaphors and Similes

The speaker uses metaphors to compare the two men to "the golden splendor of the day" and "the sable pride of night" as well as the simile "lightning brilliant as a sword."

Alliteration and Assonance

There is alliteration in the B and F sounds of the line "The black boy and the white," and "And here the fair folk talk."

Irony

N/A

Genre

Love poetry, ballad

Setting

The poem is set in an undetermined location. It is implied to be a city given the number of observers on the street.

Tone

Triumphant

Protagonist and Antagonist

The protagonists of the poem are the two men in an interracial relationship. The antagonists are the judgmental onlookers.

Major Conflict

The major conflict of the poem is the tension between the onlookers' indignation and the couple's pride in their relationship.

Climax

The climax of the poem occurs when the two men ignore their observers.

Foreshadowing

N/A

Understatement

N/A

Allusions

N/A

Metonymy and Synecdoche

N/A

Personification

N/A

Hyperbole

"The golden splendor of the day" is a hyperbolic description of daylight.

Onomatopoeia

N/A

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