Life the hound
Equivocal
Comes at a bound
Either to rend me
Or to befriend me.
I cannot tell
The hound's intent
Till he has sprung
At my bare hand
With teeth or tongue.
Meanwhile I stand
And wait the event.
I would like dramatic situation (what is literally happening), tone, and diction of this poem.
I realize that hound in this poem is a double meaning word and all, but what would i say for tone and diction x_x?
Any help would be appreciated thx
Well, double meaning usually means a pun, at least to my mind. A better definition in this case would be 'metaphor', I suspect. Life and hound are said to have certain things in common. Or, since he used the word 'equivocal', have uncertainty in common. Life, like a dog, sometimes comes in a friendly fashion, but sometimes attacks.
Tone is slippery, so you can support lots of answers, whichever appeals to you personally. Same with diction. Make your own case, from the examples below:
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what's the supposed effect of making "equivocal" its own line?
It's four syllables. Most of the lines are four syllables.
It rhymes (sort of) with the 6th line.
And it means anbiguously uncertain, so it fits and underlines the theme of the poem.
Ian