A Cycle of Change

        In the first line of “A Cycle of Change”, anaphora is used when describing how the painter paints or draws his painting. The use of the anaphora acts as the beginning of the sonnet and it introduces the readers to the painter. It also draws the reader into the sonnet as it a very poetic device and makes the phrase sound light and musical. Anaphora is again used in the third line with the some being repeated in the beginning of each sentence.  This is to emphasize the many reasons that the artist is so used his life of change because nothing he has known or made has lasted – including his paintings- which are all destroyed by people stepping or spitting on them. Simile is used in the second stanza as the artist is compared to the winds, never stopping and always moving.  This comparison is made so readers get an idea of the lifestyle of the artist. Wind is associated with something always moving, fast, carefree and daring. This is exactly what the artist is, he is always moving and never able to stay at one place for more than a while and this is the life he prefers. The fast refers to his way of life and his work. Mumbai, the Indian city where the artist resides is very fast and busy city and in order to keep up with it the people need to be fast, whether it’s getting to work, doing work, or coming home. The artist is also used to drawing fast and this can proved by the speed he draws the paintings on the wall. Gustad when he sees them is impressed by the progress of the artist. The carefree is the artist’s personality – he’s an extremely carefree person. He’d rather be floating around place to place then be tied down with family and home.  And the daring is his life. He sleeps outside his paintings whether it be raining or sunny, or murders or sirens. He is also daring as he always finds the strength to start over again, to begin something all over again. In the second line of the second stanza there is a metaphor, with pen referring to God or destiny. Through his drawings on the wall, his interest in cultures and religions and his degrees, it can be perceived that the artist is religious and believes in God. A further proof of this is time where he and Gustad were parting, the artist says – “Luck is spit of gods and goddesses” – this shows that the artist does truly believe in God. Such a comparison also shows that the artist believes that this way of life was not chosen by him but rather by God and destiny and while he prefers this life, it was written by God and so he has no choice but to follow this life. Personification is also used in this sonnet when the artist describes God/destiny (in the form of pen) “writing” his fate. Nor God nor destiny can write and so this human trait was given to them to make them seem more real to readers. Anastrophe (when one word of the given phrase or couple of words is switched to reverse the order of the phrase or give words) is used in the phrase “afraid of change irate” instead of “afraid of irate change”. This technique was used to give the phrase two meanings, one showing that the artist is angry towards the change, as he is not used to it and it’s causing in him anger and the other one to show his anger towards himself as a small part of him in willingly accepting the change. In the third stanza, polyptoton is used with “alter” and “alteration”. This is done to emphasize the greatest change not only for the wall but also for the artist, as neither would ever be the same after this project. Another metaphor is used to describe the complexity of the artist’s mind and how the artist views the each side of his mind; the side which is used to moving around as the light side and the side which wants to stay and find a family as the dark. This is a paradox of the artist’s mind as family is usually associated with light and happy things while moving around tends to lean on the darker side as it brings little or no happiness. Also in the couplet is an oxymoron, “ill at ease” which is done to emphasize the intricacy of the artist’s thoughts and feelings about the state he’s in. And lastly is the anaphora used in “Cycle of Change” which is used to catch the reader’s attention as it the most important part of the sonnet and it represents the artist’s life.

        While most of the sonnet is in iambic pentameter to add that poem and musical quality to it, some lines such as “Nor succumbing to intimate prayer”. This line follows the anapestic tetrameter foot adds a sense of urgency and relentless of the artist’s utmost deepest desires from whom he is trying his hardest to escape. “Falter his being ever so slowly” is a line, which is half dactylic and half trochaic, which gives it a sense of new direction and it gives the sonnet a new tone and it intensifies the sentence giving it a deeper and more intense meaning. This is fit for this part of the sonnet as it’s the sub Volta and its sentence is a very deep one as it shows the powerful change in the artist’s routine. “Stuck between light and dark, feelings so strange” is a mix of cretic dimeter, one trochaic meter and one iambic meter. This was done to show the complexity of the artist as that is exactly what the line refers to in meaning. This complex poetic meter deepens the sense of confusion in the sonnet. The second line in the couplet “But he’s ill at ease, a cycle of change” is also half iambic and half anapestic as it shows the oxymoron between the two as iambic meters are supposed to bring a tranquil and serene tone to the sonnet and the anapestic meter is supposed to bring a sense of urgency and relentlessness which is an oxymoron. Also if one was to imagine the line continued this way it would be a never-ending cycle, continuously changing amidst the two – therefore representing the cycle of change.

        In the final analysis, “A Cycle of Change”, through its meaning, uses of the different devices of literature and poetic meters presents the life of artist as a metaphor for the cycle of change. With the double meanings, emphasizing important aspects, and showing connections through uses of metaphors, similes, anaphora, polyptoton, or the poetic feet, “A Cycle of Change” truly describes the life of the artist and the cycle itself.