Elements of Poetry and Essay Writing

I was surprised to find that I could use so many of the techniques that poets use in writing my own essays. For example, by choosing certain words, I can set the tone for the essay and demonstrate certain attitudes. Also, I can take advantage of several technical methods, such as abstractions, assonance, and figures of speech to make an essay more interesting. Further, I think it is important to try and understand the poets meaning behind their word choice. After analyzing the poems of John Donne, Anne Bradstreet, and Robert Frost, I will discuss how I think certain elements can be used in my own writing.

Anne Bradstreet used words such as “loved”, “happy”, and “reward” to set a positive tone (963). The author’s attitude came across as grateful and appreciative. In contrast, Robert Frost chose to use words such as “perish”, “hate”, and “destruction”, which displayed a negative tone and attitude (1009). I never really gave this much consideration before, but I think I could use this technique in the future. By choosing the correct words, I can make sure the readers are interpreting my writing as I mean it to come across.

I also discovered several technical methods that can be used in my essay writing. This is another area that I never really paid attention to. Sure, I have used some of them, but never knew what they were called or understood the full effect of them. Abstractions and several figures of speech were amongst some of the methods that were found.

For example, “Batter my heart, three-personed God” (Doone 988), “To My Dear and Loving Husband” (Bradstreet 963), and “Fire and Ice” (Frost 1009), abstractions were used. Abstractions are words that we use to describe something that has no concrete reality (Charters 787). For example, in Doone’s poem, the author used words such as “weak” and “untrue” (989). Bradstreet also used this technique by using the word “love” (963). And finally, Frost’s word choice was cleverly utilized with using “desire” and “hate” (1009). These are also considered examples of figurative speech in that they use simile or metaphor in describing the subject (Charters 795). I feel by taking advantage of some of these techniques, I can make my essays more interesting for readers.

To add, I found several figures of speech techniques such as metonymy, apostrophe, hyperbole and symbols were used in Anne Bradstreet’s poem “To My Dear and Loving Husband” (963).