Alliteration might be red:
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
and we mustn't leave out "a damsel with a dulcimer" a few lines later in the same poem.
A dactyl (a metric foot consisting of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables) might be orange:
This is the forest primeval, the murmuring pines and the hemlocks....
An anapest (a metric foot consisting of two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable) might be, oih, I don't know, magenta:
The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on dark Galilee.
What if an iamb (a two-syllable metric foot with the stress on the second syllable) were gold and blue? You would see:
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea,
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.
What if a trochee (a two-syllable metric foot with the stress on the first syllable) were brown and chartreuse? You would see:
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
If poetic devices announced themselves in color, the world would be a much more colorful place. Life would be a lot more interesting, or a lot more confusing, or both.
I hope this post didn't make your head swim.
Can you identify the poems and the poets?
I had no idea those devices existed!
ReplyDeleteCan I suggest that if coloured poetic devices were to become "a thing" I'd probably prefer them to be different shades of the same colour eg. black and grey; dark and light blue.
That's just me, picky and easily confused
kylie, I don't think coloured poetic devices will ever become 'a thing' except in the minds of semi-demented bloggers scattered about.
DeleteI've enjoyed studying the various poetic forms in the past. Showing them in color as you have done could be a good way of teaching them but I find it a bit distracting to read like that. Your last quoted poem is among my favorites, The Raven. I enjoy Poe's poetry very much.
ReplyDeleteBonnie, you are in the 'Show Me' state and so I showed you a glimpse of what goes on in my brain at times. I have enjoyed Poe's "Anabel Lee" ever since Mr. D.P. Morris made us memorize it in ninth-grade English class. Apparently the days of memorizing poetry are 'Nevermore'.
DeleteMade me smile. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteAdrian, my work here is finished.
DeleteWho knew Coleridge, Longfellow, Byron, Gray and Poe were such colourful chaps?
ReplyDeleteElizabeth, as Fonzie on Happy Days used to say, you are "Correctamundo!" regarding the poets! I'm glad you have returned to the commenting fold.
Delete"Other sheep have I, which are not of this fold. Them also must I bring, and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd."
"Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" by Thomas Gray is well worth returning to - like a favourite holiday destination. So many layers - like The Grand Canyon. I am not sure about colour coding like that and I am sorry to say that I cannot foresee your idea catching on. I hope this comment does not appear in brown. I much prefer boring old black.
ReplyDeleteNeil, surely you are not implying that the other poems are not worth returning to? My favourite line in "Elegy" is 'The paths of glory lead but to the grave'.
DeleteI do not want my 'idea' to catch on as it would make reading most distracting. I merely asked "what if?"....
I changed the color setting so many times in this post that when I was finished old Blogger was confused and kept the brown going through the remainder of the post and all through the comments. I sincerely hope things return to normal (boring old black) with my next post!