18 pages • 36 minutes read
the rites for Cousin Vit
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Literary Devices
Form and Meter
Brooks's poem is, more or less, a sonnet. Like a sonnet, the poem contains 14 lines, a rhyme scheme, and a meter approximating pentameter. However, Brooks doesn’t create a by-the-book sonnet. Much like Cousin Vit escapes the clutches of death, Brooks evades the proscriptions of the traditional sonnet form. It’s hard to figure out a way to pronounce the words in Lines 2, 3, and 13 to keep them within five metrical feet or ten syllables. These lines feature an extra syllable. They go beyond ten, similar to how Cousin Vit is beyond death’s grasp. Cousin Vit shows that she can overtake death. Meanwhile, Gwendolyn Brooks demonstrates that she can impose her will on the sonnet form.
Although the poem looks neat, Brooks mirrors life’s messiness with a zigzagging rhyme scheme. In the first eight lines, Lines 1 and 4 rhyme, Lines 2 and 3 rhyme, Lines 5 and 8 rhyme, and Lines 6 and 7 rhyme. However, in the final six lines, Lines 9 and 13 rhyme, Lines 10 and 13 rhyme, and Lines 11 and 12 rhyme. The somewhat unpredictable rhyme scheme reflects the chances or accidents of Cousin Vit’s fortuitous life.
Alliteration
Alliteration is a literary device in which the poet puts words with similar-sounding consonants or words starting with the same letter near one another. Alliteration allows the poet to draw attention to the sound of the poem and create a work that’s pleasing to read out loud.
In “the rites for Cousin Vit,” alliteration occurs often. In Line 2, “back,” “casket-stand,” and “can’t” produce alliteration due to their similar consonant sounds. At the end of Line 2, “hold” and “her” create alliteration as both words start with the letter “h.” In Line 3, “stuff and satin” form an alliteration, as both begin with “s.” In Lines 5 and 6, “surmise,” “rises,” and “sunshine” are alliterative due to the presence of “s” at the start or within words. Alliteration also appears at the end of the poem with “haply” (Line 13 and 14), “happiness,” and “hysterics” (Line 14).
The abundance of alliteration mirrors one the poem’s themes: Life’s messiness. For example, “haply” runs into “happiness,” which then returns to “haply,” so “haply” can collide with “hysterics.” With alliteration, Brooks shows how hard it is to organize things and keep them separate. Like Cousin Vit’s life, the poem produces a disorderly sound. Yet the sound isn’t discordant. The alliteration initiates a melody. The tune of the poem mirrors the joy of Cousin Vit’s life.
Irony
A poet uses irony to put a spin on something, to tackle a subject in a way that deviates from norms and conventions. The gulf between what the reader expects and what happens in the poem is so sharp that it generates irony. Irony can be tragic, funny, or both.
In “the rites for Cousin Vit,” irony is comedic. The title leads the reader to believe they’re about to encounter a poem about the death of a person named Cousin Vit. By Line 2, irony presents as Cousin Vit flips the script, and she disentangles herself from the funeral. What bills itself as a poem about Cousin Vit’s death turns out to be a sonnet about Cousin Vit’s life.
The personification in the first four lines furthers comedic irony. Typically, death is all-powerful and all-consuming. There is no combating or escaping death. Once a person is dead, they’re dead—it’s final. In the poem, the seriousness of death becomes slapstick. Brooks personifies death by giving it human qualities. Death tries to detain Cousin Vit, but lacks the resources to do so. It’s as if death and Cousin Vit are in a comedic sketch. Death tries to capture Cousin Vit’s body, but Cousin Vit is too much for death to handle. The expectation is that once death takes a life, it takes that life forever. Brooks upends that expectation.
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By Gwendolyn Brooks
