Writing Style and Literary Techniques Narrative Voice: Describe whether the work is written in first-person, third-person, etc. Literary Devices: Identify and explain the use of literary devices such as symbolism, irony, foreshadowing, or metaphor. Tone and Mood: Discuss the emotional tone of the work and how it affects the reader’s experience
Point of View:
The text is narrated in the third-person by an omniscient (all knowing) narrator; The point of view relates to the religious nature of the text. The text makes no claim to be divinely revealed to a prophet, but it likely has its origination in oral tradition.
Symbolism:
Lightning as the creator's force;
The god who is responsible for the creation of the world is Marduk, and the manner by which he rises to power is by electrifying the waters of the great sea serpent, Tiamat. This is a symbolic representation of energy creating life from nothing. In the Sumerian world, fire is the element responsible for reality. (They understood lightning to be a fiery device.
Metaphor:
The Birth of the Gods
The story begins with opening lines that metaphorically suggest procreation with the offspring being gods. The context here is of an epoch before the beginning of the beginning; a universe absent terrestrial turf and instead occupied only fresh and salty water. Mixing those together usually creates unpleasant brackish mixture…and that holds true in this story:
“When skies above were not yet named
Nor earth below pronounced by name
Apsu, the first one, their begetter
And maker Tiamat, who bore them all,
Had mixed their waters together.”
Foreshadowing:
When Marduk is raised as a hero, he foreshadows that he will reign over the heavens as the king of the Mesopotamian gods by saying that he wants everyone to proclaim that his 'fate is preeminent.'
Also, the first depiction of Marduk includes the manner by which he will kill Tiamat, namely by trapping her in fire.
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