Dimensions of Literary Poetic Devices

Abstract

A poem is a living entity, an organism and a complete whole. It demands, as a response, a reaction to this stimulus in verbal form and an expression of the vibrations in our person, the movement we read it. The poet 'teaches' and 'delights' by stirring the reader to an unusual pitch of excitement and by making all the discordant elements of his mind and body move together in perfect harmony. But what is the poet's secret, that he, with only the materials of the daily round of existence which we all share, can render back to us a heightened sense of the significance of our own lives together with a more serene detachment? The answer is-we do not know. We know simply that the poet probably does respond to what is going on about him more finely, more deeply, and with more variety than most of us do we know further, that together with a delicate emotional nature, the poet has a power to organize and arrange his thoughts and to fit them into ordered words; we suspect that this instinct for form not only helps the poet relieve his inner tension, but also actually enhances his original experience.