Structure/Poetic Devices
This poem is similar to Howl (1955) in that it has the same structure. Each line is quite long, and Ginsberg has said these long lines are meant to be read in a single breath. In this and many of Ginsberg’s poems, there is a sense of urgency and hyperactivity. It is as if the poem is just a collection of his memories spilled onto the page. There is no uniform structure to the poem. Some lines are indented, some are not. Ginsberg uses hyphens as punctuation often, and the sentences are often run-ons, brimming with different ideas and images.
One interesting device Ginsberg uses in this poem is capitalization. Several words like “Death”, “Day”, “Mercy” and “Oblivion”, are capitalized even though they don’t necessarily have to be. The capitalization of the words denotes their heightened importance in the poem. “Oblivion” in this poem is not just an abstraction; it is meant to describe a very real place, thus it is capitalized.
Read more about this topic: Kaddish And Other Poems
Famous quotes containing the words structure, poetic and/or devices:
“Just as a new scientific discovery manifests something that was already latent in the order of nature, and at the same time is logically related to the total structure of the existing science, so the new poem manifests something that was already latent in the order of words.”
—Northrop Frye (b. 1912)
“There are certain pursuits which, if not wholly poetic and true, do at least suggest a nobler and finer relation to nature than we know. The keeping of bees, for instance.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The gods being always close to men perceive those who afflict others with unjust devices and do not fear the wrath of heaven.”
—Hesiod (c. 8th century B.C.)