- The poem is in the form of a ballad, Quatrain
- Has the rhyming scheme of A,B,C,B and is written in iambic tentrameter
- The poem is written in the 1st person and is written subjectively
- The narrator may be Auden
- The repetition throughout the poem emphasis the narrators emotions eg "I love you" and "O"
- Sibilance on line 15
- Personification of the river.
- Lines 6-7 are a juxtaposition as "under the arch of a railway bridge" is a traditional place where prostitutes meet their 'clients'
- There is a change in tone in stanza 6 and the poem becomes more tragic.
- Onomatopoeia in line 22 "whirr and chime"
- The sounds of the word become more aggressive as the poem progresses, during the first part the words are soft eg "sing, love, flower" but in the second part the words become more sharp eg "plunge, crack, dead"
- References to Fairy tales in stanza 12
- References to religion eg "First love of the world" - Adam and Eve "land of the dead" - Heaven.
Thursday, 28 February 2013
As I walked out one evening
The story is told through ....
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I like your point about the change in the sound of the words used. Is there a religious theme to the poem?
ReplyDeleteThere are many religious references but I do not believe that religion is a key theme in the poem. The religious references include “first love of the world” – adam and eve and “land of the dead” – heaven however I believe the overall theme is love and time.
ReplyDelete