Frances Cornley Alliteration

In Frances Cornford’s “The Watch”, the narrator uses internal alliteration and rhyme to work throughout the poem to strengthen its meaning. The narrator is very sick in the poem. The narrator uses several instances of internal alliteration and rhyme to emphasize the illustration of the pain caused by his illness that he is facing. In the first line of the poem, internal alliteration is used to describe the setting. The narrator says, “I wakened on my hot, hard bed” (468). When read aloud, these words also create a panting affect. When people are dying, they often struggle to breathe. The narrator is illustrating and emphasizing that he is very uncomfortable. The use of internal alliteration in that line also helps create a weak tone. The use of
The narrator uses rhyme to illustrate how he is feeling. The ck sounds at the end of the poem help emphasize that time is moving slow and harsh. The narrator tells the reader she is extremely ill by saying, “I am so sick, so sick, so sick; / O Death, come quick, come quick, come quick.” (468) The narrator cannot bear the pain anymore and wants to die quickly. By incorporating rhyme into the poem it allowed the reader to see how ill the narrator really was. The “ck” sound helped emphasize the pain the narrator is feeling. The “ck” sound is a rather harsh sound that is normally associated with pain or discomfort. By incorporating that sound into the poem, it allows the reader to better understand the level of discomfort the narrator is feeling.
Ultimately, the use of internal alliteration and rhyme worked through Frances Cornford’s poem to strengthen the meaning. The use of these elements helped the reader understand how much pain the narrator actually felt. The use of internal alliteration helped illustrate to the reader the level of discomfort and discontent that the narrator had. The use of rhyme allowed the narrator to emphasize that pain to the