The Knight Figurative Language

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“The Knight,” by Adrienne Rich, examines the conflict between the external appearance and the internal appearance of a person. By using figurative language, such as anaphora, metaphor, imagery and hyperbole, the speaker helps convey a sense that everything is not what it appears to be. For example, during first impressions we usually tend to judge people on their physical characteristics and create assumptions based on our prior knowledge. Many times we correlate a race, age, or gender with a common stereotype. However, once we become more acquainted with him/her, our impression about them usually changes. Thus, Adrienne Rich’s poem, “The Knight,” helps remind readers to not rely on appearances to make judgments. In the beginning of the poem, Rich uses anaphora to describe the external appearance of the knight. Anaphora is the repetition at the beginning of successive clauses or sentences. Rich constantly repeats the line, “A knight rides into the noon”, in the first two stanzas. As the reader,…show more content…
Hyperbole is an exaggeration that evoke strong feelings. For example, lines 18-19 is an exaggeration because it gives the impression that the knight is trapped “between the walls of iron”. In reality, Rich is trying to say that the knight feels trapped in his own armor because he feels pressured by society to create the illusion of war as a cheerful, festive event. In addition, lines 19-20 give an impression that the knight’s armor is crushing his ribs making it hard for him to breathe. The writer exaggerates in order to show that the knight wants to escape; not from the physical armor that engulfs his body, but by the invisible barrier that separates him from his true personality. The hyperbole in the previous lines is trying to show how we sometimes create stereotypes, as in the case of the knight who is expected to show bravery and courage at all times, and how we sometimes pressure others to act accordingly to
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