"LXV [Once, I knew a fine song]" by Stephen Crane
Once, I knew a fine song,
-It is true, believe me,—
It was all of birds,
And I held them in a basket,
When I opened the wicket,
Heavens! They all flew away.
I cried, "Come back, little thoughts!"
But they only laughed.
They flew on
Until they were as sand
Thrown between me and the sky.
Excerpt from "Mother and Poet" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Dead ! One of them shot by the sea in the east,
And one of them shot in the west by the sea.
Dead! both my boys! When you sit at the feast
And are wanting a great song for Italy free,
Let none look at me !
Yet I was a poetess only last year,
And good at my art, for a woman, men said;
But this woman, this, who is agonized here,
The east sea and west sea rhyme on in her head
Forever instead.
Question:
Both of the poems use which of the following devices, to what purpose?
A. caesura to create rhythm
B. anaphora to create consistency
C. alliteration to create playfulness
D. parallel structure to create irony
E. enjambment to create cause and effect
E. enjambment to create cause and effect
Both poems use enjambment, which is the continuation of a sentence or phrase from one line of poetry to the next without a pause, to create a sense of cause and effect. In "LXV [Once, I knew a fine song]" by Stephen Crane, the enjambment emphasizes the speaker's lament over the lost thoughts flying away, creating a sense of loss and longing. In "Mother and Poet" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, the enjambment serves to convey the mother's grief and anguish over the loss of her sons in battle.