Vanity – figures of speech, mood, tone and structure

POETIC DEVICE/FIGURES OF SPEECH

1. Rhetorical question — the poem itself is a rhetorical question. Each stanza harbours not less than two of this. E.g. – “who indeed will hear then with laughter?” what  ear to our sobbing hearts”
2. Metaphor – The word “beggar” is used to compare Africans to people who are impoverished and are seeking for aid, especially that of food.
3. Symbolism — “heart” in line 11 symbolizes love, emotion and care.
4. Synecdoche – The “ear” as used severally in the poem is a part used to represent a whole – humans. It is also symbolic as explained above.
5. Personification – more so, “heart” in line 11 is personified in that it does not have an ear to hear, but, it is portrayed as having the ability to listen.
6. Sarcasm – this is a humorous statement that mocks someone. This technique is used in line 4: “sad complaining voices of beggars”
7. Hyperbole — This is overstatement or exaggeration. It is deployed in line 13 “pitiful anger… which grows in us like a tumor”.
8. Simile – this is the comparing of two things using the word “as”’ or “like”. This techniques is evident in line 13: ‘”which grows in us like a tumour”. Anger is compared to the brain ailment called tumour.
9. Enjambment – this is when ideas flow from one line to another in a poem without any punctuation mark. This is evident from line 17-24 (stanza 4).
10. Repetition – This is the continuous mentioning of a word or group of words in a poem. This technique is used in almost all the stanza of the poem. E.g. – line 7 and 9 is of the same idea.
11. Anaphora – this is the repetition of the same word or words in two or more lines that follow each other. E.g. – lines 11 and 12, 15 and 16, 27 and 28, 29 and 30.
12. Imagery — This refers to a word or words that create an image in the mind of the reader. There are many of them in this poem. E.g. – “sad complaining voices of beggars” – audio imagery; “large mouth”. “Heart” in line 11 also creates an image of tumour”, “black depth of our plaintive throat” “clumsy voices”. Others  are, “their cries”, “on the earth”, “on the water”
13. Irony – it is ironical to means to lament over the bad condition of African and at the same time mocking her sarcastically. This is evident in all the stanzas of the poem.

MOOD AND TONE

The mood of the poetic persona is that of sadness and worry. The tone is filled with concern, and at the same time sarcastic.

STRUCTURE

It is a poem of 30 lines divided into 5 stanzas. It is also a free verse.

DICTION

The language is simple straight to the point, and easy to understand.

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