Poetic devices

Alliteration

One of the poetic devices used by Raymond Carver in the poem “Lemonade” is alliteration. Although the poem looks more like a passage of prose, Carver’s use of alliteration suggests that he intended to use this technique to make his poem more musical and offer a sense of internal rhythm. 

For example, the “m” sound used in “came”, “months”, “measure”, “my” and “man” connects the first two verses of the poem. Similarly, the “l” sound used in “look”, “like”, “lose”, “only” and “child” connects the second and the third verse. Generally, Carver tends to use alliteration to connect sounds used in the last part of a verse to the ones used in the first part of the adjacent verse:

He was bushy-haired, confident,
cracking his knuckles, alive with energy, as we
discussed tiers, and brackets, and this oak stain
compared to that.

In this example, the “c” sound in “confident” is connected to the “c” in “cracking” in the following line. Carver’s stylistic choice helps create musicality in the poem, making it more lyrical despite its prose-like appearance.

Enjambment

To highlight the poem’s atypical form, Carver uses enjambment. This technique is used to create a sense of continuity and flow a...