A report analyzing the poetic devices used in the poem "Oranges"

Essay by eryka_sJunior High, 8th grade June 2004

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In the poem "Oranges", the author uses certain literary devices to get the poems point across better. One of these literary devices is free verse. A free verse poem is a poem that does not have a fixed line length, stanza form, rhyme scheme, or meter. For example in verses one through four, the first time I walked with a girl, I was twelve, cold, and weighted down with two oranges in my pocket, there is no fixed line length, stanza form, rhyme scheme, or meter. The poet used a free verse in this poem to keep it in a casual mood. The poem is not about some great moment that would need fancy meters and rhyme schemes to express the occasion. It is a casual moment between a girl and a boy expressed in a casual way. The boy in the poem is telling the reader outright, because the poet wrote it the way someone would talk.

The poem is a simple record of something that happened that day. So the poet wrote it in a simple free verse way.

Another poetic device the poet uses in "Oranges" is Onomatopoeia. Onomatopoeia is the use of a word whose sound imitates or suggests its meaning. The poet uses onomatopoeia to help describe the scene and let the reader experience the scene more. For example in verses five through seven, December, frost cracking beneath my steps, my breath, before me, then gone, cracking is an onomatopoeia. Cracking shows that the frost was splitting, but it also imitates the sound the frost makes when it does fracture. Another example is in verse 44, a few cars hissing past. Hissing shows that the cars are driving by fast, but it also suggests the sound the cars make while driving by fast.