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Sound And Image Techniques In William Stafford's 'Fifteen'

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Analytic Paragraph – Poetry Jaimi Plater William Stafford in « Fifteen » uses a fifteen year old boy finding a motorcycle and becoming infatuated by it to show that aging may bring various freedoms, but the thing that is wanted most is always just out of reach. The boy’s infatuation with the motorcycle is enhanced through the use of sounds and image devices. To begin, Stafford uses denotative language very effectively when narrating the moment the motorcycle was found on the side of the road. He notices the motorcycle: “South of the Bridge on Seventeenth” (1), “…a motorcycle with engine running as it lay on its side…” (3-4). The literal description of where the motorcycle was found creates a realistic and neutral tone to the beginning of the poem, and aids in …show more content…

In addition, Stafford uses sound in an appropriate manor to have more cacophonous sound as the boy admires the motorcycle. He states, “I admired all of that pulsing gleam…the demure headlights fringed where it lay…” (6-8), “I led it gently to the road and stood…” (8-9). The use of the alliterative “d” is helpful in describing something that is usually seen as “tough”, or “dangerous”, because the speaker wanted the motorcycle to seem intimidating to the boy who had found it. Furthermore, Stafford also uses personification to illustrate how enamoured the boy really was by the motorcycle. He states, “…to the road and stood with that companion, ready and friendly” (9-10), “We could find the end of a road” (11), “On the bridge we indulged a forward feeling, a tremble” (14-15). The personification allows the readers to indulge on the feeling that the boy just simply cannot let go of the immense admiration he has for a machine. Equally, the personification adds pathos to the boy’s separation from the motorcycle. The examples used in the SIE above demonstrate not only the maturity of the boy, but the vulnerability if a young boy and the struggle of not being

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