The unequal nature of unrequited love makes man the submissive jester of his indifferent queen. In his poem "The Cap and Bells" WB Yeats tries to convey the message that unrequited love drives a man to give and give of himself until he has nothing left; he makes himself silly. He achieves this goal through the intelligent means of poetic device. He uses three primary vehicles in his research: rhyme, personification, and symbolism. Using these devices, Yeats creates art that causes the reader to reflect on what he has exposed and thus better understand his tragic vision of love. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Without in-depth analysis, the rhyming nature of this poem may be noted. The rhyme scheme (pattern of rhyming words at the end of each line) abcb occurs throughout its nine stanzas. This improves the overall tone of the poem by preventing it from becoming romanticized and grounding it in reality and angst. The rhyme scheme is interrupted by dissimilar-sounding words, which produce a jarring effect on the reader. This discordant quality prevents the reader from becoming lost in a song-like fairy tale, clarifying the dichotomy between the fantastic story offered literally and the reality of its metaphorical nature. An example of this can be found in the fourth stanza: He bade his heart go to her, When the owls cried no more; In a red dress and trembling He sang to her through the door. (Yeats 13-16) This line appears to be a loving gesture that could trap the reader in its love story, which would only be intensified by a melodious and constant rhyme. However, the non-rhyming words, she and garment, prevent this. Instead of a sing-song impression, we're surprised when we get to the third line and find that it doesn't quite fit. This is aided by the resumption of the rhyme in the fourth line. This interrupts the flow of reading and forces us to consider what we have read, leading us to the conclusion that this is not a fairy tale. Yeats also consistently uses masculine rhyme. This means that the stressed vowel is found in the final syllable of rhyming words. In the above example we find the words more and leads to each of a single syllable and rhyming masculine by default. In fact, Yeats uses only two instances of multisyllabic rhyming words; found on lines 4 and 8, the words window-sill and footfall. If one were to assume that no accidents occur in the poem, the placement of words is vital. Each emerges as the last word of the respective stanza in stanzas one and two. These two stanzas are the exposition of the poem and are found before the queen rejects the jester. Therefore, they are different from the rest of the poem; perhaps the fact that Yeats chose them as the only multisyllabic rhyming words serves to distinguish this section from the rest of the poem. Finally, in each of these stanzas Yeats writes in a coherent pattern of interleaved and interlocking lines. Stopped lines are those that end with punctuation, while stuck lines are those that end without punctuation. The pattern found is: end-stopped, end-stopped, enjambed, end-stopped. For example: The jester walked in the garden: The garden was silent; He commanded his soul to rise upward And stand on the windowsill. (1-4) The only place in the poem where this pattern alternates is in stanzas 7 and 8. In these cases all four lines are finished. Using this technique alerts the reader to a change in the poem and, therefore, the need for special attention; this is certainly the case here. The culmination of poetry yescheck in these two stanzas, lines 25-33. Just like his changes throughout the exposition, and his alteration of rhyming and non-rhyming words in general, here he shocks the reader slightly with the change, provoking further scrutiny. Yeats also uses personification in this lyric poem. Using personification means attributing human characteristics to inanimate objects. In the very first stanza Yeats personifies his soul: “He bade his to rise upward/ And stand upon the windowsill” (3-4). It continues like this until his soul is rejected. She then turns to her heart, which, among other things, "sang to her through the door" (16). By creating the heart and soul as human beings, he gives them human capabilities. More concretely, it grants them the capacity for joy and anguish. Furthermore, he paints them with distinct personalities; of the soul: «She had become wise by thinking» (7). The heart, on the other hand, is more romantic: "Dreaming made his tongue sweet" (18). This use of personification helps Yeats take his poetry to the next level. It makes the reader realize that there is more at play than just a literal heart and a literal soul, because neither can speak literally. Furthermore, Yeats is able to express how real this rejection is for the jester, because the queen is rejecting his living soul and living heart. Once Yeats has established a structure, created a tone, and emphasized what he wants us to consider important, the reader is forced to delve deeper. Here he encounters Yeats's greatest weapon, symbolism. By putting certain characters and objects into action, Yeats makes them symbols and forces his poetry onto two levels, literal and figurative. In the literal version of the story there is a jester who walks in a garden in front of a queen's window. He tells his soul to go to the windowsill; there the queen does not hear him and closes the window. Next the jester sends her heart to her door, but she dismisses him with a fan. In the end, the jester leaves his cap and bells for her to find. He is happy and opens the door and window and lets his heart and soul in. This can be plainly understood. However, it does not convey Yeats's message about unrequited love and its power to take everything a man has. This is because these are simply symbols, objects with a deeper meaning. It's easiest to start with the most obvious: the two main characters, the queen and the jester. These are quite simple as you can understand their meaning simply by knowing, in everyday life, what they are. Clearly, a queen is a sovereign. She is the head of her kingdom and all others are her subjects, obligated to serve her. A jester is often a "fool"; he is hired for the entertainment of the royal court and not to be taken seriously. Therefore, without even knowing anything else, we can assume that this woman rules this man's life, does not take him seriously and, for her, is simple entertainment. This relationship can also be deduced from his position below her in the garden: «The jester walked in the garden/ Commanded his soul to rise upwards» (1, 3). She is "over" him. The garden can also be seen as symbolic, perhaps with some license. Gardens, especially the elaborate masterpieces surrounding castles, are simply for enjoyment. The fact that the jester is in the queen's garden solidifies him as an object of amusement. Then there is the symbolism of the window and the door. The jester sends his soul to "stand on his window sill." (4). Later, when this fails, he sends his heart to sing "for her through the door" (16). The window is the symbol of his soul: "The eyes are the,, 2000. 27-28.