Song of the Open Road poetic devices 12th HSC

2.1 SONG OF THE OPEN ROAD

– Walt Whitman

POETIC DEVICES:

Herewith trying to provide the poetic devices/figure of speech used in the lines of the poem Song of the Open Road which composed by American Poet, Walt Whitman who is called the Father of Free Verse. This poem is also one of the examples of Free Verse.

1. “Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,”

Answer: 1. Alliteration

2. Metaphor- ‘road’ signifies ‘road of life’
3. Healthy, free, the world before me,

Answer: Inversion- word order is not correct. It’s been rearranged to create poetic effect.

3. The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.

Answer: 1. Alliteration

2. Personification-The Road has been given the animate quality
3. Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune,

Answer: 1. Repetition

5. Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,

Answer: 1. Alliteration- ‘n’ sound has been repeated

2. Repetition
3. Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms,

Answer: 1. Alliteration- ‘k’ sound has been repeated

2. Consonance-‘s’ sound has been repeated
3. Transferred Epithet- ‘indoor’ and ‘querulous’ transferred from people to the complaints and criticism.
4. I do not want the constellations any nearer,

Answer: Consonance

8. I know they are very well where they are,

Answer: 1. Alliteration and 2. Repetition

9. I know they suffice for those who belong to them.

Answer: 1. Alliteration

10. Still here I carry my old delicious burdens,

Answer:  Paradox- self contradictory line, ‘burdens’ cannot be ‘delicious’

11. I carry them, men and women, I carry them with me wherever I go,

Answer:  1. Alliteration; 2. Antithesis- opposite words (men- women); and 3. Repetition.

12. I am fill’d with them, and I will fill them in return.

Answer: 1. Repetition

Read this poem and enjoy the beauty of poem

Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I
choose.
Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am
good-fortune,
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more,
need nothing,
Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous
criticisms,
Strong and content I travel the open road.
The earth, that is sufficient,
I do not want the constellations any nearer,
I know they are very well where they are,
I know they suffice for those who belong to them.
(Still here I carry my old delicious burdens,
I carry them, men and women, I carry them with me
wherever I go,
I swear it is impossible for me to get rid of them,
I am fill’d with them, and I will fill them in return.)

• -Walt Whitman