Different Expressive Means and Stylistic Devices Essay

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Introduction

Every poem contains a lot of information in itself even though the sizes of some poems are very small. Poets use symbols to provide the reader with a wider understanding of the poem in most cases. The small size of poems does not allow the poets to describe all they want in simple words, so they use some language decoration to make their poems sound better. The use of different expressive means and stylistic devices makes the poem sound better, leads the vividness and expression in the poem.

Main body

“Song of Myself” is a poem by Walter Whitman, which seems to be his best work. The author presents the combination of the sermon, biography, and poetic meditation in his “Song of Myself”. The repetitions throughout the whole poem have very important meanings. Repetition, as a technique of argument, substitutes for logical development a growing weight of example, of amplification and exhortation, of inductive repetition rather than deductive thought.

Whitman often uses a stanzaic form in his poems. The first line presents a thought or image and the following lines amplify, explain, or parallel that thought or image. The example may be given the 403-430 lines in his “Song of Myself”.

Almost at the very beginning, the author uses some different types of repetition: “Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same”.

The attentive reader will understand the purpose of such repetition: the author wanted to create a sense of the endlessness of the line and the thought. The next line confirms our guesses: Hoping to cease not till death. (Whitman)

The end of the fifth section of the poem is full of repetitions. The whole stanza starts with the conjunction “and” to show the reader the connection with the previous line, with the previous idea:

And that a kelson of the creation is love,

And limitless are leaves stiff or drooping in the fields,

And brown ants in the little wells beneath them, And mossy scabs of the worm fence, heap’d stones, elder, mullein, and poke-weed. (Whitman)

In this section the repetition of the phrase “I know that…” and the repetition of the structure of the line make the reader believe in the poet’s words without checking them. Such powerful conviction is presented by the repetition. These repetitions give the reader a more detailed understanding of the author’s thoughts. The reader understands how important it is to the poet to make us understand his idea.

The repetitions have also some structural aim. The whole poem is based on the rhythm which is organized with the help of repetitions. The constant repetition of the same words through the text creates some effect of rhythm. The repeated words are “assume”, “myself”, “perfume”, and the ending “ing” also has the same aim.

I celebrate myself, and sing myself,

And what I assume you shall assume,

Houses and rooms are full of perfumes…. the shelves are crowded with perfumes,

I breathe the fragrance myself, (Whitman)

The given examples are shown to confirm the idea about rhythm creation in the poem.

So, we may conclude that the repetitions in the poem “Song of Myself” by Walter Whitman pursue several aims. One of them is to create a rhythm in the poem, and the other is to provide a deeper understanding of the poem by the reader.

Works Cited

Whitman, Walter. “Song of Myself” 2009. Web.

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IvyPanda. (2021) 'Different Expressive Means and Stylistic Devices'. 13 November.

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IvyPanda. 2021. "Different Expressive Means and Stylistic Devices." November 13, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/different-expressive-means-and-stylistic-devices/.

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