Definition Of Repetition

The Words We See But Do Not Know

A famous leader named Mother Teresa once said, “Words can be short, and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless.” This is relevant to all times because words have endless abilities - they make the unimaginable imaginable. Words can break us down, build us up, and they contain the knowledge of the world. Our words obtain the capability to change our perception of our peers, experiences, and places. We can twist and turn words to create new meanings that wouldn't have been attainable otherwise. Although, it is discrete, words have power; and some people use the power of words to the full extent. A poet by the name of Anne Stevenson uses words for aptitude in her writing. Stevenson was born in 1933,
Although repetition may seem self explanatory it creates an impact that most of the time goes unseen by the reader. Repitition's purpose according to “Repetition - Examples and Definition of Repetition.” is, “Repetition is used to emphasize a feeling or idea, create rhythm, and/or develop a sense of urgency.” In “Sous-entendu,” the device repetition is displayed in lines one and two, and lines nine and ten. These lines say, “Don’t think / that I don’t know.” When the narrator says this, it can be inferred that the narrator is a woman and she is addressing these words to men. After further inspection it is realized that through these words she observes she is being objectified by men, and the narrator is ultimately offended by it. Since Stevenson used these two line in the poem twice in two different stanzas it is speculated that these words are meant to be the main emphasis on the poem’s meaning. It directly altercates the meaning of the poem when Stevenson uses the words “think” and “thought” these two words contain the ability to make you brain subconsciously think about what they are talking about - and in this case it is the objectification of women. The lines, “Don’t think / that I don’t know,” are present in the beginning and the end of the poem so the brain can correlate how they correlate to the middle stanzas, or as the colloquialism goes “it wraps everything up in a nice bow.”
However, these different perceptions of symbolism would be altered if it were not for Stevenson’s word choice. The purpose of symbolism i according to Shamekia Thomas in “What Is Symbolism in Literature?”is defined as, “an artistic and poetic movement or style using symbolic images and indirect suggestion to express mystical ideas, emotions, and states of mind.” In more Layman’s terms it means that it gives tangible object a deeper insight or meaning to them. The first from of symbolism found in the poem is introduced in the beginning and that is the title. The word “Sous-entendu” has two different dictionary definitions. As a noun the definition of “Sous-entendu” as according to the Cambridge Dictionary is, “an allusion which means expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference,” (“Sous-Entendu”).The noun interpretation of “Sous-entendu” correlates to the man’s point of view in the story. It relates to the men portrayed in this story, because of the way Stevenson describes men throughout the poem, and the title infers that mean believe they can objectify women secretly, and get away with it. On the other hand the verb interpretation of “Sous-entendu” portrays women’s point of view throughout the story. The verb definition of “Sous-entendu” according to Collins Dictionary is, knowledge, and understanding.” This definition