To Penshurst Group

Question:


farhara
Student
College - Junior

What are the poetic devices used in the poem "To Penshurst" by Ben Jonson?

What are the metaphors, analogies, etc...and what does it represent?

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Posted by farhara on Tuesday February 26, 2008 at 7:24 PM and tagged with 17th century, explication, figures of speech, poetic devices, to penshurst.

Answers:


  1. linda-allen Teacher
    High School - 10th Grade

    Best answer as selected by question asker.

    This is not an easy poem to explicate. I won't list all of the poetic devices Jonson uses, but here are a few examples to get you started.

    allusion: there are several references to characters from Greek mythology, such as dryads, Bacchus, Pan, the Muses, satyrs, fauns, etc.

    alliteration: in lines 12 and 13 there are the "broad breech" and "taller tree"; in lines 28 and 29 we find "purpled pheasant" and "painted partridge"

    rhyme: the poem is a series of couplets that rhyme AABBCCDD etc.

    imagery: food, plants and animals

    personification: in line 21, the house is spoken of as a host who feasts or exercises friends; in lines 32 and 33 the ponds pay a tribute (like a tax) to the house

    You might say that the entire poem is a metaphor for England: just as Penshurst is the ideal, flourishing house, so also England is the ideal, flourishing nation.

    I hope this helps you. As I said before, this is not an easy poem!

    Visit the link below for more information.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/penshurst-salem/penshurst/

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    Posted by linda-allen on Tuesday February 26, 2008 at 8:55 PM