Walt Whitman Poetic Devices

Poetic Devices Walt Whitman: Parallel Structure – In “I Hear America Singing” lines 2-8 are the best examples of Parallel Structure. Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong, The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,

The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work, The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck, The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands, The wood-cutter’s song, the plowboy’s on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown, The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing, Free Verse – Free verse is a poem that is written without any type of rhyme in it and “A Noiseless Patient Spider” is a perfect example.

It doesn’t rhyme, but to make the poem make sense he uses repetition, metaphor, alliteration and personification. Apostrophe – An example of apostrophe in “A Noiseless Patient Spider” was when the narrator addresses his soul. Mood – in the beginning mood of the poem “When I Heard the Learned Astronomer” was kind of tired and sick. But in the second part of the poem his mood changes it to kind of romantic. Catalog – Catalog is like to make a list, and Whitman makes a list of worker like carpenter, mason, wood maker, etc. in the poem “I hear America Singing”