(IC) Lesson Topic 5: Repetition & Review

Repetition is when we have a word or phrase and use it more than once. Repetition in poetry sets up expectations that are either fulfilled or frustrating for the reader.

Read the following poem by Gwendolyn Brooks.

The repetition of the word "We" is originally planted at the start of both the title and the first line. This repetition is intensified by the memorable enjambment in lines 1-7, with "We" causing a breathy kind of suspense at each line break. Thus we have the fulfillment of expectation, right?

And then the "We" repetition is suddenly and rudely cut off in line 8, hence the frustration of expectation. The missing "We" at the end of the poem dramatizes through sound (or, more precisely, the lack of sound) the bitter loss of these young men who, the poem implies, have wasted their all-too-brief lives.

Review

Use the following self-assessment to help you review the material from this module.

[CC BY 4.0] UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED | IMAGES: LICENSED AND USED ACCORDING TO TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION