What are the figures of speech in the poem 'The ballad of semmerwater'?
Answers
The main figures of speech in the poem 'The Ballad of Semmerwater', are visual imagery, repetition, alliteration, hyperbaton, anaphora and personification.
EXPLANATION:
William Watson is based on an old folklore. Hence the poet uses a fairy-tale kind of narration. This type of narration uses ‘visual imagery' as its primary figure of speech. Visual imagery creates a pen portrait of the town, its inhabitants and the beggar.
The poet uses repetition in most of the line to create the sonorous tone. For example 'Deep Asleep' is used in the very beginning then in the next line and even at the end.
Alliteration can be found in ‘still skies', glimmer and gleam.
Anaphora is used in the last two stanzas with ‘he has cursed', ‘And’.
Hyperbaton is used in many sentences such as ‘folk have seen them all'.
Personification is used to personify the city submerged under Semmer water.