The Prodigal

The Prodigal

1. Alliteration

   • "Light-lashed"
   • "faint forked"

2. personification

   • "self-righteous"
   • "the first star came to warn"

3. biblical allusion

   • "The Prodigal"
   • "safe and companionable as in the Ark"
   • "a pacing aureole"

4. sensuous imagery

   • "plastered halfway up with glass-smooth dung"
   • "the sunrise glazed the barnyard mud with red: the burning puddles seemed to reassure"
   • "a slimy board"
   • "The brown enormous odor"

5. onomatopoeia

   • "overhanging clouds of hay"

6. theme

   • redemption
   • the strength of the human spirit

7. tone

   • bleak &depressing in 1st stanza
   • becomes cautiously optimistic in the 2nd stanza
   • begins to change at the word "But"

8. metaphor

   • The Prodigal is a metaphor for an alcoholic, specifically the poet herself.