Literature project.

...

- In the first line of the first stanza, the poet starts with the phrase Beat! beat! drums!- blow! bugles! to inform everybody about the war. These sound effects reinforce the meaning of the poem. These phrase Beat! beat! drums!- blow! bugles! blow! is used by the author as the opening line of each stanza. The author uses the literary technique of onomatopeia in the phrase Beat! beat! drums! to add fun to the writing, making it come alive and helping the reader experience the scene he is describing. Onomatopeia is the use of words that sound like their meanings. There are some examples: Beat! beat! drums!- bugles! blow!. This sound effects informs about the war, describes it and reinforce the messages and lessons that the author wants to transmit to the reader.

- Walt Whitman uses alliteration, repetition, and tone to develop the poem and create the rhythm. Line eleven (11) begins with the following phrase, “No bargains bargains by day”…, expressing an alliteration. Whitman uses the phrase “Beat! beat! drums! –blow! bugles! blow!” as the opening line of each stanza.

- The author uses alliteration to create a musical effect in the text that enhances the pleasure of reading a literary piece. It makes reading and recitation of the poems attractive and appealing; thus, making them easier to learn by the reader. Furthermore, it gives beauty to a piece of writing. Alliteration is a stylistic device in which a number of words, having the same first consonant sound, occur close together in a series.

Consider the following examples of alliteration in the poem Beat! Beat! Drums!:

a). “Are beds prepared for sleepers at night in the houses? no sleepers must sleep into those beds”….

These phrase is alliterative because the same first letter of word (S) occurs close together and produces alliteration in the sentence.

b). “No bargains bargains by day- no brokers or speculators – would they continue?”…

This phrase is alliterative because the same first letter of words (b) occurs close together and produces alliteration in the sentence.

c). “Would the talkers be talking?” "Would the singer attempt to sing?”…

This phrase is alliterative because the same first letter of words (t) occurs close together and produces alliteration in the sentence.

d). “So fierce you whirr and pound you drums – so shrill you bugles blow”…

“Then rattle quicker heavier drums – you bugles wilder blow”…

Those phrases are alliterative because the same first letter of words (b) occurs close together and produces alliteration in the sentence.

e). “So strong you thump, O terrible drums – so loud you bugles blow”… These phrase is alliterative because the same first letter of word (s) occurs close together and the same letter (b) also occurs close together producing alliteration in the sentence.

f). For example, the poet uses alliteration in the sixth line of the first stanza:

“Nor the peaceful farmer any peace,”….

These phrase is an example of alliteration because the same letter of words (ea) occurs close together and produces alliteration in the sentence.

- In the poem Beat! beat! drums! The poet uses the literary technique of assonance to create a frightening atmosphere and create a sad mood, as the theme of the poem is war and it consequences. It helps the poet to develop a particular mood in the poem that corresponds with the main theme.

Consider the following examples of assonance in the poem Beat! Beat! Drums!

- For example, the poet uses assonance in the sixth line of the first stanza:

“Ploughing his field or gathering his grain”….

These phrase is an example of assonance because the same vowel sound of the vowel (i) repeats itself in almost all the words.

Assonance examples in the poem Beat! beat! drums!:

- So fierce you whirr and pound your drums- so shrill you bugles blow.

- Over the traffic of cities – over the rumble of wheels in the streets;

Are beds prepared for sleepers at night in the houses? no sleepers must sleep in those beds; No bargains bargains by day- no brokers or speculators – would they continue? Would the talkers be talking? would the singer attempt to sing?

- Then rattle quicker, heavier drums – you bugles wilder blow.

- Make no parley – stop for expostulation,

- Mind not the timid, mind not the weeper or prayer,

- Let not the child’s voice be heard, nor the mother’s entreaties,

- Make even the trestles to shake the dead where they lie awaiting the hearses,

- So strong you thump O terrible drums, so loud you bugles blow.

- The author of the poem Beat! beat! drums! uses hyperbole to emphasize a point. It can be funny or even ridiculous and bring depth and life to a character. One example of hyperbole in the poem is in the sixth line of the third stanza: “Make even the trestles to shake the dead where they lie awaiting the hearses.” In this line the author uses hyperbole to emphasize the eminent death of the people during the Civil War and how the inanimate structures like trestles are waiting to the hearses. This phrase shows the death of the people and the fact that cars or carriages are going to be used for carrying the dead body of the soldiers in a funeral.

- The poet uses simile to realize a comparison of two things, using the word “like”. An example of a simile in the poem Beat! beat! drums! is in the second line of the first paragraph with the phrase: (“Through the windows- through the doors- burst like a ruthless force,”…). In this sentence the author compares the sound of the drums announcing the Civil War to a ruthless force using the word like.

- The author of Beat! beat! drums! Walt Whitman uses personification in the poem to give human characteristics to inanimate objects, animals