In Chapter 5 of Literary Theory, introduces poetic and rhetorical techniques and investigates the effects they have on literature. For example, poetry targets strong emotions and has the ability to persuade the reader while at first it was seen as an art of imitation or representation. Eventually poetry came to be seen as related to rhetoric due to both being similar in being viewed as persuasive tools. The author makes several mentions of rhetorical figures in this chapter, two of which I would like to identify in “The Sea is History” by Derek Walcott. Towards the start it is written: “First, there was the heaving oil, heavy as chaos; then, like a light at the end of a tunnel,” makes use of metaphor to give a very heavy atmospheric feeling as if something was brooding. This is abruptly followed by a juxtaposition of the light at the end of a tunnel, perhaps making usage of irony as one would not expect to see light in oil. He uses a clever comparison of darkness to oil to give it a tangible feeling since we can refer to what we know of oil and then uses irony to create an immediate contrast to this. The contrast undoes the effect he created with the metaphor in a manner I find suiting of a release of intense emotions. I believe this helped shape the meaning of the poem by creating a strong introduction and atmosphere for the rest of the poem to follow.

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