Account for the effects of the main poetic devices used in the poem.
The poem is very effective in the use of poetic devices. There are several metaphors in the poem which deepen the language and meaning, obscuring the same from common interpretation. The metaphors include: “Desert tongues”, ‘vegetable blood’ “oceans of bowls”, “the cup of life’ “milk of the moon’ “lovers of fire”, “My Nile” etc. each of the examples above subject to varying degrees of interpretations and this is why the poetic meaning is veiled or hidden in secrecy and requires deep understanding and interpretation to unravel.
Also, the poem achieves a high tempo through emphasis. This is because of a number of cases of repetition used in the poem such as “gun wounds’ “tongue”, “vegetable”, “children”, “walk’ “when”, “Nile”. In addition, there are some examples of alliteration to further enhance the poetic sound, e.g. “tongues…the”, “strong…scorpions”, “the table’ “to…the ticks”, “cholera…cracked”, “milk…moon”, “with…wound”, “for…fire” etc. These create some kind of music and harmony in the poem. Of equal importance is the employment of rhetorical question as in, “when the playground is emptied of children’s toys, who needs roadblocks?” this question leaves a long-lasting impression in the reader’s mind as it expects a response.