English Case

An ode is a poem in praise of a person, place or object that is usually identified in the title. It describes a scene, focuses on a problem or a situation and arrives at a conclusion that returns to the original scene or statement. Originally, the ode was a serious poetic form, but modern odes often are written in praise of the ordinary.

Ballad poems tell a story like a folk tale or legend and often has a repeated refrain. It is often about love and often sung.

The most common form for Haiku is three short lines. Haiku doesn't rhyme. Haiku is a poetic form and a type of poetry from the Japanese culture. Haiku combines form, content, and language in a meaningful, yet compact form.

Sonnets are fourteen-line poems, period. They exist in every line length, with every rhyme scheme imaginable, or with no rhyme scheme at all. The more or less standard sonnets, however, fall into two types: Italian and Shakespearean.

Repetition: Repetition is used for effect here with variations of the message that freedom doesn't exist for him. To be specific line 5 says "America never was America for me." Line 10 says "It never was America for me." His refrain here is the main theme, that he hasn't felt a part of the American dream. That's why it's set apart from her lines, for emphasis.

Metaphor: Hughes uses the word machine on line 34 when he says "I am the worker sold to the machine." The machine is a metaphor for the system, the American system that has let him down.

Alliteration: The phrase on line #4 represents alliteration. It says "dream the dreamers dreamed." Another example is on line #11 with "O, let my land be a land where liberty" and "live like leeches on the people's lives" on lines #77-78.

Point of view: Told in the First Person. Uses the word "I' throughout.

Extended Metaphor: America is used as an extended metaphor because it is a word used throughout the poem with many comparisons of what it should be. It should be a land of the free on line #4, a place of opportunity on line #13, equality on line #14, and a homeland on line #52.

Figurative Language / Dialogue: As language that evokes mental images and sensory impressions, lines #17-19 evoke the images of darkness and veils. It says "Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark? And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?' This question stands out from the poem in that its font is different, it is spoken as dialogue, and it draws the reader to an image that creates darkness and something covered up, like the dream of America is covered up or dark to certain people.

Imagery: Hughes uses imagery throughout the poem to make it speak to the reader. For example he uses "slavery's