'The Crane' poetry analysis

  • Unna
    5 years ago

    Straining, stretching, teetch like fangs;
    A masticating mouth which clangs
    And bangs
    Two iron jaws;
    The metal cat stretched on all fours.

    Behind her piled the concrete waste -
    The bricks and mortars she'd displaced,
    Because they weren't quite to her taste.

    Yet who would think this crazy can
    Has for her brain, in fact, a man!

    I have some questions for the above poem:

    1. what are the types of imagery used in each of the following lines...
    a. "The metal cat stretched on all fours."
    b. "A masticating mouth which clangs/And bangs"
    c. "The brick and mortars she'd displaced,"

    2. What are the sound devices in each these lines...
    a. "A masticating mouth which clangs /And bangs"
    b. "Two iron jaws;
    The metal cat stretched on all fours."

  • hiraeth replied to Unna
    5 years ago

    I'm assuming this is homework help, but I'll still help :)

    1. what are the types of imagery used in each of the following lines...
    a. "The metal cat stretched on all fours."

    - This is visual imagery because it is describing an imagery, it's self-explanatory I think; a metal cat stretched on four makes your mind paint that image.

    b. "A masticating mouth which clangs/And bangs"

    - This is both visual imagery and auditory imagery; again 'a masticating mouth' makes your mind paint that image whereas your mind can hear the 'clang and bang' which makes it auditory imagery.

    c. "The brick and mortars she'd displaced,"

    - This is visual imagery because again it makes your mind paint that image.

    2. What are the sound devices in each these lines...
    a. "A masticating mouth which clangs /And bangs"

    - This is onomatopoeia (which is what you call when a word tries to imitate a sound, you can a hear a dropped fork 'clang'), this is also cacophony (which means when there are similar harsh words being put together (clang and bang are harsh words because they are 'stressed', 'stressed' meaning you put an emphasis on pronouncing them, for instance 'ice cream', the 'ice' is stressed)

    b. "Two iron jaws;
    The metal cat stretched on all fours."

    - This is meter, you can tell since there is a mixture of stressed and unstressed syllables. I will capitalize the syllables that are stressed:

    " two Iron JAWS;
    the METal CAT stretCHED

  • Unna replied to hiraeth
    5 years ago

    Hi Hiraeth,
    Yes, It is a homework :-)
    Thank you very much for your good explanation.
    Could you also let me know what type of visual imagery those lines are for e.g. simile or metaphor or personification

    for 1.c. "The brick and mortars she'd displaced,"

    Is it correct the visual imagery here is a personification?

    for 2.b, Apart from meter, is there a 'rhyme' - jaws and fours ? Also is there a assonance - mEtal, cAt, strEtched?

    Sorry, if I am all over the place :-D