Analysis of a High Toned Christian Woman

Samantha Kozera Ms. McGrath ENG 4U 20 March 2013 Analysis of A High-Toned Christian Woman The poem A High-Toned Christian Woman by Wallace Stevens used many sound devices to create an amazing poem and therefore should be considered to be the best poem in the world. If we dissect the poem, we brush off see that almost every assembly line has a sound device that affects the poems atmosphere, meaning or use of talking to. The mood seemed playful from combinations of words and sound devices.The alliteration in line 19 May, merely may, madame makes the speaker sound fun instead of strict. The onomatopoeia in line 18 Such chink and tank and tunk-a-tunk-tunk also bring up the playful mood. His tone seems to be mocking the Christian womans beliefs instead of having a mature conversation. repetition of Madame as well as palm, planets, and fiction makes it clear to the reader that these subjects are important. Stevens creates comparisons from the firstborn mention of those subjects to the next mention.For example, he states in the first line that poetry is the supreme fiction then later speaks about the womans beliefs as fiction as well. The author also repeats the subject planets. The first time the author speaks of planets is in a context of a project beyond the planets (Line 8-9). The project could be poetry and the place could be his imagination. Since we often buster something beyond the planets as Heaven (especially since Christianity is in our minds at this point), the author choses the repetition of planets to show that anything beyond it is a figment of the imagination.He speaks of Heaven in line 3 with an alliteration, follow Heaven after he speaks about a nave (Line 2). This line creates a dark and cruel feeling. A nave is an empty place for worshippers and a haunted Heaven gives the idea that Heaven is a place for dead worshippers. In line 2 and 3 assonance is used with the a sound macrocosm the emphasis. These lines are very important to the poem by putting emphasis on these lines the author brings that to the readers attention.The authors diction and images interchangeable Squiggling like saxophones (Line 12), muzzy bellies (Line 16) and jovial hullabaloo (Line 20) make it seem like the speaker trying to persuade the woman to think a certain route and is making fun of what she thinks to accomplish that. The image of a widow wincing is a very sharp image thats emphasised by the alliteration with the w sound that contrasts the fun mood. This could represent the comparison of the interpretation of poetry and the interpretation of religious literature.Also, this widow could represent the Christian woman, who is wincing at such crazy ideas talk by the speaker of the poem. In conclusion, the sound devices and images contribute to the mood and meaning of the poem because it brings emphasis to important lines. Through connotations and alliterations, Wallace Stevens makes a short poem into a huge (controversial) idea. The fact that s omeone can accomplish this with only twenty-two lines makes it eligible to be the best poem ever.