Emergency IT Lesson 1: Figurative Language

As extracted from: FamousPoetsandPoems.com.
Romance by Edgar Allan Poe
Romance, who loves to nod and sing
With drowsy head and folded wing
Among the green leaves as they shake
Far down within some shadowy lake,
To me a painted paroquet
Hath been—most familiar bird—
Taught me my alphabet to say,
To lisp my very earliest word
While in the wild wood I did lie,
A child—with a most knowing eye.

Of late, eternal condor years
So shake the very Heaven on high
With tumult as they thunder by,
I have no time for idle cares
Through gazing on the unquiet sky;
And when an hour with calmer wings
Its down upon my spirit flings,
That little time with lyre and rhyme
To while away—forbidden things—
My heart would feel to be a crime
Unless it trembled with the strings.



Q1: How are the figurative language used in the poem? Give the specific word(s), explain what type of figurative language it is and why the poet chose to use this figurative language?

Personification is used for the first line and 20th line; where ‘Romance’ takes human form and action and where the heart is a crime.

Also, there’s metaphoric expression in the 5th line; the Edgar Allan Poe writes that Romance is a painted paroquet. A paroquet is a small auk inhabiting the coast and islands of Alaska. The upper parts are dark slate, under parts white, bill orange red.

Hyperboles are used in the 8th line and 12th line, where the word ‘very’ is repeated to emphasise and exaggerate on the nouns that follow. Symbolism is also used in the 16th Line, where ‘an hour’ is used as a representative figure to carry greater meaning to ‘my spirit’.


All these uses of figurative language accompany the poem and the writer’s expressions. Since this poem is much of self-reflection and thinking, and that the ‘I’ in the poem is the only character, these are used to add gloss to the words of the poem, thereby bringing taste, feel and authentication to the poem.




Q2: Tell us why you like this poem in no less than 100 words.

Adjectives and nouns are mixed and spiced with figurative language – all of which are of the same mood (such as drowsy, thunder, trembled, crime and shadowy) – this makes the poem play along with the feelings the words within bring.

The poem emphasises a lot on sentimentalism, and evolves around strong emotions. Above all, it has connotations, some of which are covered under figurative language. Edgar Allan Poe has written tight and uses the strongest and best verbs to weave out the poem.

Upon reading, for a while I felt that it was written on the spot, without any planning. The poem has a natural flow to it and it does not have an artificially fabricated structure.

With all these in mind, it’s a five-star poem written by a five-star poet. Simple and Perfect. An excellent masterpiece.