Dec 18, 2009

In Particular | Style

Foreshadowing
While the first part of the poem, where Byrne talks about the primitive mind in general, seems to serve merely as an introduction to the topic, this section has another, very important purpose. This first section foreshadows, or hints at, what is to come later in the poem. The style of language that Byrne uses to discuss creative inspiration in this first section, lines 1–10, also foreshadows the idea of sudden disaster. For example, when the poem first starts, Byrne describes inspiration as being “like a swarm of bees.” While this type of language...