189k views
8 votes
Why does the poet capitalize the words Lion, Tiger, and Kitten in the poem The Game by Oliver Herford?

User Wamadahama
by
4.0k points

2 Answers

2 votes

Final answer:

In poetry, words are often capitalized to emphasize their significance, personify them, or confer symbolic meaning. This technique draws the reader's attention and can elevate the status of these concepts within the poem.

Step-by-step explanation:

In poetry, capitalizing words that are not usually capitalized, as seen in Oliver Herford's The Game with 'Lion', 'Tiger', and 'Kitten', is often a stylistic choice to emphasize certain words and confer on them a special significance, possibly personifying them or attributing to their symbolic meaning. Similarly, the capitalization of 'Nature' and 'Sea' by Wordsworth, or words like 'Freedom,' 'Tyranny,' and 'Faction' in Phillis Wheatley's poems, underscores their importance or elevates their status within the poem's context. Capitalized words in poetry can attract the reader's attention to the concept these words represent, sometimes equating them with proper nouns and presenting them as characters or forces.

User Rok Garbas
by
4.0k points
9 votes
for emphasis maybe?
i don’t anything about that poem so that’s just my guess.
User Martijn Ten Hoor
by
5.0k points