Previous Next

Just as “Wild Geese” doesn’t subscribe to a particular metrical form, it doesn’t subscribe to a particular rhyme scheme. In fact, there are no rhymes in the poem at all. The ends of lines don’t feature rhyming words, nor are there any examples of internal rhyme. The noticeable lack of rhyme has important implications for the poem’s overall effect. By not using rhyme, the speaker’s address has more naturalistic and conversational quality that helps maintain their earnest tone. The lack of rhyme also lends an air of solemnity to the speaker’s words. In an earlier era of English-language poetry, the presence of rhyme would have communicated a sense of formality. By contrast, many twentieth-century poets have felt that rhyme is an unnatural and unnecessarily decorative device that detracts from the seriousness of language. For this reason, the lack of rhyme in “Wild Geese” helps preserve the solemnity of the speaker’s message. Furthermore, this solemnity gives the speaker’s message a sense of being more truthful, precisely because it comes unadorned and therefore more honest.

Previous section Meter Next section Key Poetic Devices

Take a Study Break