Custom «Literary Elements in “The Boy at the Window”» Essay Paper Sample

The writer of the poem “Boy at the Window”, Richard Wilbur uses different literary elements that make his poem interesting. The writer uses words that touch the reader and, therefore, affects the opinion the reader can make about the poem. The poem describes how a boy feels sad and cries for the snowman staying outside in the storm. He does not know that this is not true; hence he is affected. The snowman felt pity for the boy too, and the tears that flew from the boy’s eyes moved him.

This writer of the poem uses literary elements such as personification, metaphor, regular rhyme scheme, and repetition to bring out ideas in the poem. The elements also enhance the musicality of the poem as well as making the poem easier to remember and understand. This paper will describe some of the literary elements used in the poem, and how they affect readers when making their opinion about the poem (Hale, 2007).

The writer of the poem, Richard Wilbur, uses lots of figurative language in this poem. The most figurative language used is personification, whereby the writer uses human qualities or acts to talk about to non-human thing. In this poem, the writer uses personification when he makes a snowman, a non-human to have characteristics of an animal and a human being. For instance, towards the end of stanza two, the writer says that the snowman cried together with the boy by stating "He melts enough to drop from one soft eye. A trickle of the purest rain, a tear. For the child, at the bright pane surrounded by". He also personifies in stanza one, in the sixth line by stating “The pale faced figure with bitumen eyes". Throughout this poem, Wilbur uses personification, which makes it more appealing to readers (Hale, 2007).

The other literary element used by the writer of this poem is the use of metaphors, which uses appropriate adjectives. For instance, the coal eyes of the snowman are compared to bitumen. One of the metaphors used by Richard is when he compares stares between the snowman and the boy by saying “Returns him such a god forsaken stare as outcast Adam gave to paradise." The writer uses this metaphor to show how the boy stared at the snowman, and yet he could not go for him neither could he do anything to help him escape the suffering he was experiencing. The use of metaphor compares the poem’s situation with the real life situation; therefore, helping readers understand the poem easily. This also makes many people read since metaphors create a poem that everyone loves (Probst, Rinehart & Inc, 2000).

The last literary element the writer uses is the use of different styles of writing that enhances the musicality of the poem. For instance, Richard uses repetition and a regular rhyme scheme. He repeats the word such in the last line of the second stanza that says “Such warmth, such light, such love, and so much fear”. The use of repetition helps the writer use simplistic language in the poem. The simple language helps new readers be able to understand the poem. Use of alliteration in sentences of the poem such as “seeing the snowman standing all alone,” where words have the same sounds at the beginning, also makes the poem has a simple language (Probst, Rinehart & Inc, 2000).

The poem’s rhyme scheme, which is abbcbdbd in both stanzas, makes it to be regular. The regularity of the rhyme scheme makes the poem more musical, and one is can remember the poem easily. It also makes the poem to be more interesting and easier to recite that when it lacks it. Therefore, a poem with these elements that make it interesting, appeals many readers and their opinion may be affected (Probst, Rinehart & Inc, 2000).

These literary elements have also affected my response to this poem whereby I can see that snowman exist. With the personification used, I see that snowman existed and that he was not an imaginary being, the same way the boy believed. The poem is also interesting and easy to comprehend because of the simple language used by the writer.

In conclusion, it is evident that use of literary elements can affect the reader’s opinion about the poem. This is because, literary elements makes the poem more interesting, and easy to understand.