THE USE OF ALLITERATION, REPETITION AND ASSONANCE IN THE POEM, BINSEY POPLARS
The poet decries the destruction of nature through the felling of trees. He maintains that nature has a role to play in the affairs of human beings, To demonstrate this role. He makes use of alliteration, repetition and assonance as Stylistic devices. Alliteration is defined as the repetition of initial consonants of word. It occurs in lines and across lines. There is Alliteration of /k/and /i/ sounds as well as in ... whose airy cages/quelled or quenched in leaves the leaping sun. Alliteration of /s/, /d/, and /w/ sounds in “That dandled a sandaled shadow that swam or sank On meadow and river and wind wandering, weed-winding bank’. (c) Also, alliteration of “/t/ and ‘/k * in ‘Ten or twelve, only ten or twelve strokes of havoc unselve...”
Most of the sounds alliterated are voiceless of Soft sounds. These convey the feeling of empathy and reinforce the notion that nature is delicate an and beautify and there's great loss in its being destroyed.
The Use of repetition is often combined with alliteration, and occurs in several parts of the poem. Examples include: ‘All felled, felled are all felled delve or hew"/ “hew or delve” ...quelled/quelled, “ten or twelve, only ten or twelve”
On occasion, entire lines are repeated; with slight variations:
The sweet especial scene
Rural scene, a rural scene
Sweet especial rural scene
The effect of repetion is to emphasize and intensify the point or idea of loss. To draw attention to the pathetic destruction that is taking place.
Assonance is simply the repetition of identical or sometimes, similar vowels in words. Examples include: (i) The vowel /e/ in ‘quelled’ or quenched, or ‘mend* and ‘end’, ‘delve’ or ‘selve: The vowel /i/ in ‘leaves’ and ‘leaping sun’. The vowel /a/ in dandled a sandaled...”, or in ‘swam’ and ‘sank’.
The effect of assonance in the poem is to heightens the feeling of loss and destruction, adds to the poem’s musical quality.
The cummulative effect of use of the devices is to reinforce the poet's feeling of regrets , draw attention to the harm that is being done to the trees, by extension, nature.
THE POET’S ATTITUDE TO DEATH IN THE POEM, DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT:
The poem deals with our human condition, that is, our fear of the death. It sees death as inevitable and natural but unwelcome. The fact about death is that it is inevitable and no need to call it by name. Using euphemisms such as ‘goodnight’, “close of day” ‘dying of the light” will do. It is as though these are the poet’s way of mollifying death.
The poet feels that death should be resisted, even at old age: ‘old age should burn and rave at close of day’. He provides examples of important people who do not give in to death readily. They include: Wise men at their end who’ do not go gentle in that goodnight’. Good men...who“rage, rage against the dying of light’. Carefree people - wild men with their missed opportunities, but who ‘Do not go gentle into that goodnight’. ‘Grave men’ that is , visionary people ‘who see with blinding light; but “Do not go gentle into that good night’.
The poet admonishes his dying father to show revulsion towards death, even “there on the sad height”. To “curse; bless me now with your fierce tears. To “rage, rage against the dying of the light”.
The poet's attitude to death is a resentment owing from his attitude to his father’s dying. Words like ‘burn’, ‘rage’ suggest this. However, his fear of death also makes him address it euphemistically as “goodnight”, “close of day”, etc. as though he wishes for it. This shows his ambivalence.
