The studied authors and poets use various literary techniques in order to introduce and present fate. There are three main techniques that can be found in each of these pieces of writing; this includes iambic pentameter, use of metaphors, and the narrative structure. There is a reason why each author and poet used fate, becoming famous because of it was because at the time when each piece was written people had strong beliefs on fate and their religion. This is clear because Shakespeare is dated back to Elizabethan times, when people strongly believed in Christianity and God. When Percy Shelley wrote Ozymandias, it was back in the Enlightenment times, which was when people mainly presented things from art, and was the reason Percy Shelley’s Ozymandias was presented as a statue. Rudyard Kipling’s a song in a storm dates back to World War 1 (1914-18), where men were fighting for freedom, and the fate of their country.
One of the main literary features that Shakespeare uses throughout the Romeo and Juliet play are metaphors, this is a technique that presents an idea to the reader/audience however may have a deeper, underlying meaning. Shakespeare uses this feature throughout his play using various characters, with each having their own meaning linking to the ultimate fate of the play. An example of a metaphor in the play, would be when Romeo is talking to Benvolio before the Capulet party saying “I fear too early, for my mind misgives…He that hath the steerage of my course Direct my sail!”. This is a direct reference to fate as it suggests Romeo understands that his end is nearing as everyone’s fate does, although he suggests that he will not fight God’s will, and will let god be the captain of his fate. Rudyard Kipling also uses metaphors in ‘A Song in a Storm’ to promote fate, this is introduced in the second stanza when Kipling addresses the waves “as though they had a soul”. The reason this pursues fate is because the waves are described as if they were playing a game with the crew on the ship, and that the crew would have no control to what would happen. As in Romeo and Juliet, Romeo addresses his fate to be out of his control, alike the crew that had no control over what the sea would do. Kipling later talks about how the crew felt about how their fate would end, when saying “We can make good all loss except the loss of turning back”. This suggests that the crew would except their fate, and not turn back and try to avoid what has been put in their path; stopping them from reaching the end of their fate. Romeo talks about himself as being a ship, with God being his captain when saying “But He that hath steerage of my course, Direct my sail!”, this suggests that Romeo is not scared to follow the path which has been set for him. This can be linked back to Kipling’s ‘A Song in a Storm’, as both characters do not fear their fate, and will follow their path despite how hard it would become. This shows that Shakespeare and Kipling have similar ideas on how fate can be promoted, although how this occurs does differ. In Ozymandias, Byshhe Shelley did not use metaphors to portray fate as the other poet and writer did. This makes Ozymandias stand out from the others, as Shelley did not use the same literary techniques to eventually meet fate.
One common technique found in each of these pieces of literature is the use of iambic pentameter. Iambic Pentameter can be described as a constant beat throughout each sentence, never-changing in speed or rhythm. Each sentence has the same amount of beats within each individual line, this can be used as an instrument of time; as the steady beat never alters, like a clock ticking and time passing. Shakespeare uses this technique throughout Romeo and Juliet, as the main characters speak with use of iambic pentameter within their lines. Shakespeare introduces the use of iambic pentameter in the prologue, showing that the time feature that is iambic pentameter was set along with the prologues fate; which was later proven to be true at the end of the play. In the play, the days pass at a frequent rate show that time does fly throughout with the use of iambic pentameter. This is evident when Romeo says “I fear, too early: for my mind misgives…By some vile forfeit of untimely death” suggesting that he already knows what his fate will be by going to this party. When he says “Some consequence yet hanging in the stars” Shakespeare is using iambic pentameter because god will set his path if he goes to this party, and it will be Romeo’s own doing that he cannot outrun his inevitable fate. Iambic pentameter is used because fate will always be in the future, and time will never rush to go to it; with the steady beat of the iambic pentameter representing this as time will always be ticking and the beat will always be beating.
In Kipling’s “A Song in a Storm” Iambic pentameter is used throughout, with the beat eventually meeting the underlying message which is fate. A good example of when iambic pentameter is used to promote fate is “these mindless waters work as though they had a soul”, this is because they are talking as if the sea is both a friend and an enemy. It also suggests that the crew do not have control of what the sea could do, and therefore cannot control their own fate. The use of iambic pentameter in this quote in particular makes the reader imagine the waves smashing against the boat, creating an image that the boat is not safe to be on and they are gambling with fate by fighting against the storm. This can be linked to when Kipling says “We can make good all loss except the loss of turning back”, meaning that the crew are not willing to turn back and that they have simply come too far, and they believe their path has already been set. This is a good example of fate because by using the iambic pentameter it shows that the ship is moving along, fighting through waves, and eventually to their ultimate fate. There are similarities between Romeo and Juliet and A Song in a Storm as they both use iambic pentameter as an instrument of time, which they could never change. Both Romeo, and the crew of the ship accept that they cannot change their fate, this is most clear when singing “welcome fates discourtesy whereby it is made clear”, Romeo accepts his fate when saying “He hath steerage of my ship, direct my sail!” meaning he is not afraid to walk his path.
Ozymandias uses an iambic pentameter throughout the poem. A clear use of iambic pentameter in Ozymandias would be when the character says “I met a traveller from an antique land who said…” In that line alone, it has an iambic meter. Although the first stanza talks about the statue in a past tense so unlike the other poems, the time technique of iambic meter does not occur. This is because the fate of Ozymandias has happened already instead of it waiting to occur in the future. Although how it is alike to the others is that it still uses iambic meter to pursue fate. Persy Bysshe Shelley uses personification to represent this once great king yet the statue that represented them shattered across the desert. This only occurs in Ozymandias which makes it stand out from the others because it used a different literacy technique that is unique from the others when they are describing fate in the poem. In this poem, the first eight lines/octave have a rhyming pattern which gradually changes heading towards the last six lines/sestet. This means Ozymandias was a sonnet which doesn’t have the same rhyming throughout because it gradually changed. Oymandias saw himself as someone who could never be replaced or beaten and thought of himself as the king of all kings. He never thought that he would lose everything but everyone has the same fate in all of these poems because when you die everything you have you can’t take with you and Ozymandias ultimate fate was him dying and losing his kingdom just as the beginning described meaning that his fate was no different to anyone else’s as he could not escape it.
In Ozymandias, only one literature technique appears as that none of the other poems used it. The literature technique that occurs only in this poem is a Volta. A volta is when a poem or a piece of writing has a point where the writer makes the story turn. This occurs in Ozymandias when the character talks about the words on the pedestal saying “My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings…Nothing beside remains. Round the decay of that colossal wreck” this is where Ozymandias’ past is described and ended up losing everything. Even when this literature technique is being used, the technique of iambic meter and fate is still occurring which makes this poem stand out. There are similarities between Romeo and Juliet and Ozymandias because when Romeo says “I defy you, stars” he is trying to defy what his fate is when it was set by god. The reason this doesn’t turn out to be a volta is because the prologue told us what would happen in Romeo and Juliet before the play actually started. So it didn’t matter if Romeo had said he was going to “defy” god because the result of fate happened at the end. This suggests that Ozymandias is the only poem who used the literature technique.
In A Song in a Storm, they were talking about a ship with a crew on it fighting through a storm and the spoke to the ocean as if it had its own mind. This poem uses many literature techniques such as metaphors. An example of this is “Almost these mindless waters work As though they had a soul” this is the metaphor that stands out in this poem and when we are talking about their fate the quote that stands out is “We can make good all loss except the loss of turning back.” This suggests that the ended up accepting their fate whilst using iambic meter throughout this. In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare used many literature techniques as well although what made the play stand out was the fact that we were told what the fate of the main characters would be which was unusual because none of the other studied poets did this. On the other hand, the other studied poets did use similar literal techniques in different ways. Although, the characters that weren’t part of the play all the time said quotes that linked to the idea of fate. On the other hand, the main characters had insights to their own fate because they had quotes where the fate that was set in the prologue was linked to the main characters quote. This occurs when Romeo is about to go to the party at the Capulet house and says “I fear, too early: for my mind misgives…By some vile forfeit of untimely death” this shows that he knew that he would eventually die for going to this party but he couldn’t avoid it due to it being part of his fate as he met Juliet. Shakespeare also used iambic meter to show the flow of time because in Romeo and Juliet, the days would pass at a frequent rate. In Ozymandias they use literature techniques such as Volta’s where the story has a turn which affects the end result of the story. This only occurs in Ozymandias which makes it stand out even though this poem was a sonnet without the rhyming scheme all the way through as it slightly changed towards the end. The poet also used iambic meter like the others but talked about the characters from the past instead of talk about him in the present and waiting for his fate in the future.
All these studied poets used a large variety of literal techniques as fate was being used. This makes fate seem inevitable because none of the characters even came close to escaping their fate. All of these poets used a technique that occurred frequently in their written pieces which was iambic meter although some poets used techniques that didn’t occur in others such as a metaphor This technique didn’t appear in Ozymandias and a Volta didn’t appear in neither Romeo and Juliet and A Song in a Storm. This means that you cannot avoid using these literal techniques just like the characters could never avoid their fate.
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