Question

What are the poetic devices in the ballad A legend of the northland?

Answer 1

Hint: Poetic devices are literary devices that are utilised in poetry. Poetic devices such as structural, grammatical, rhythmic, metrical, verbal, and visual features are used to construct a poem. They're necessary instruments for a poet to generate rhythm, enhance the meaning of a poem, or emphasise a mood or sensation.

Complete answer:
“A legend of the Northland” by Phoebe Cary uses Simile, alliteration, apostrophe, dialogue, repetition, punning, polysyndeton, and imagery.

-The simile, a comparison that includes the terms "like" or "as," is one poetic device utilised in Phoebe Cary's ballad.

When Cary compares the children to baby animals, she employs a simile with the term "like":
"And the children look like bear cubs."
When she describes the selfish woman's bread as "baked... thin as a wafer," she uses "as" to establish a simile.

-She uses alliteration, which is the repeating of the same consonant at the beginning of words that are near together when she refers to children’s
“ funny, fury clothes”

-The speaker of the poem addresses a person who is not present in the poem directly using the poetic device of apostrophe. The speaker in this poem achieves this when saying : “And yet you may learn a lesson
If I tell the tale to you”.

-Dialogue is also used in the poem, which gives the work the immediacy of direct conversation. Instead of the poem's speaker recounting the woman's remarks, we hear the greedy woman say,
“My cakes that seem too small
When I eat of them myself,
Are yet too large to give away”.

Note: The poem "A Legend of the Northland" is based on a traditional Northland folktale that has been passed down through the generations. It's a storey about Saint Peter and the tiny woman who was reprimanded for her conceit. The storey teaches us not to be selfish and to respect qualities like kindness and empathy