Language and style

Other relevant aspects for poem analysis are the language and the style employed by the author. In what follows, we will outline some elements related to language and style in “The Song of the Spectators” by Mary Payne.

Playing with the language

Mary Payne creates playful language through irony, allusions and metaphors. First of all, note that the identity of the historical/biblical figures is not mentioned explicitly, and neither are the events themselves. Instead, the author only alludes to them and leaves it to the readers to guess/establish the exact identity of people and the historical events.

Secondly, the author is often times ironical with the intention to criticise spectators. However, her irony often creates dark humour. Here is one example of irony from the text:

And did not ask “Where to?” but only smiled
And said “There go the Jews”, a...