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27 pages 54 minutes read

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

Learning to Read

Fiction | Poem | YA | Published in 1872

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Literary Devices

Quatrains & Alternating Rhyme Schemes

Watkins Harper organized “Learning to Read” in 11 quatrains. A quatrain is a stanza of four lines, usually propelled by an alternating rhyme scheme. These schemes place the rhyme at the end of each line. Typically, the alternative scheme pairs the first with the third line and the second with the fourth line.

However, Watkins Harper modifies it. Only the second and fourth lines rhyme with each other. For example, school (Line 2) and rule (Line 4) rhyme in the first stanza, but “teachers” (Line 1) and “it” (Line 3) don’t mesh. She creates the feeling of conversation or taking a breath.

As a result, the poem engages with oral tradition. The rhyme allows easy memorization and harkens back to spirituals used to code and pass on information. Yet the modification also allows it to sound more like an organic conversation. It could also illustrate the transition between only having oral communication to having the option of written communication as well.

Syllabic Verse

Watkins Harper offers an interesting use of syllables throughout “Learning to Read.” While there is no fixed number of syllables per line or stanza, they fall within a set range of numbers: Four to eight syllables per line and 24 through 28 per stanza. The average stanza pattern is seven to eight syllables in the opening line, six in the second, seven to eight in the third, and six in the final line.

Arguably, one may apply the label of syllabic verse to “Learning to Read.” Syllabic verse regulates a poem’s meter (a poem’s rhythm) by the number of syllables per line rather than which parts of a syllable the voice naturally emphasizes. A poem with a strict syllabic count per line and stanza or measured in emphasis may come across as more lyrical. By using a loose syllabic verse model, Watkins Harper allows the poem to feel like a focal memory often retold. The speaker follows the grooves the retellings have made, yet each retelling may unfold slightly differently.

Diction & Voice

As discussed in the poem analysis, “Learning to Read” belongs to the poetic sub-genre of persona poems. In persona poems, the poet utilizes a character, which explicitly is not themselves nor an assumed stand-in, to narrate or drive the poem.

Two methods used to distinguish a persona from the assumption of poet-as-speaker are diction and voice. Diction is the words a writer selects over similar meaning words to foster a certain feeling in their readers. Through diction, writers can shape a character’s voice. When scholars discuss voice in literature, they refer to an author’s particular style choices. These choices inform the reader how the author or a character frames their views and interprets the world around them. Watkins Harper shows Chloe’s first-hand experience and disdain for southern slaveholders. Chloe refuses to legitimize the Confederate States of America and their goals by calling them “Rebs” instead of Confederates (Lines 3 and 28). It makes them seem like petty, cruel, and misbehaved children playing at the idea of rebellion rather than a unified nation. She also never refers to slaveowners by their names, only by “Rebs” or “master” (Lines 3, 5, 17, and 28). They appear as obstacles or biblical trials rather than people.

By choosing words used in specific regions or eras, a poet draws a line between their usual voice and their character’s voice. Speech patterns develop from and demonstrate lived experiences. Additionally, writers can also develop diction and voice through the words’ visual presentation. For example, one can spell, condense, and arrange the words the way they sound when people speak them. Aural association and syntax are two of Watkins Harper’s key diction choices in “Learning to Read.” Watkins Harper marks Chloe as a friendly individual by using abbreviations and speech patterns that frequently appear during the middle of a comfortable conversation with someone familiar. Against becomes “agin’” (Line 4), them becomes “‘em” (Line 24), and Confederates become Rebels becomes “Rebs” (Lines 3 and 28). The casualness of abbreviating rebel to Rebs speaks to a physical proximity to the Confederate cause that many northern Black women did not experience. This further separates Chloe from Watkins Harper.

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