babylon the great

1.

Significance of title

2.

Form

• Allegorical poem
• Petrarchan sonnet – ironic use as these are usually used for love poems

3.

Rhyme and rhythm

• Stress is on the first syllable, which gives a powerful imperative warning tone
• Octave: ABBAABBA
• Sestet: CDDECE

4.

Techniques

• Repetition of 'gaze not upon her'. 'Gaze' has connotations of fascination, intense engagement, voyeurism, thus sexual implications.
• Simile – 'as spotted panther lusts in lair'. Sexual intentions, carnivorous, evil, animalistic. Also latteral alliteration.
• Polysyndetic triadic structural progression, drawing attention to her multitude of wealth, used to lure and seduce.
• Use of colour: scarlet = sexually immoral. Lexical field of red: 'heart', 'blood', 'lusts', 'wine', 'scarlet', 'desire', 'fire'.