Part of Speech: Noun
Definition: a person who repairs and maintains machinery, or motors.
Source: Dictionary.com
Found in “I Hear America Singing” by Walt Whitman
“ Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe
and strong, ” line1/line2
Mechanics are known to be strong and smart because they work on big machinery. In this poem the speaker is talking about the different jobs that makes America the place it is because everyone is always working everyday and that is what he hears.
Iridescent
Part of Speech: Adjective
Definition: Showing luminous colors that seem to change when seen from different angles.
Source: Dictionary.com
Found In: “Punishment” By Nancy Miller Gomez
“The Iridescent scream of a sharp-shinned hawk circling somewhere in the pastel wash” Line 8-9.
A hawks screams cannot be Iridescent. The writer was using figurative language because a scream is not in color.
Acrid
Part of Speech: Adjective
Definition: Having an irritatingly strong and unpleasant taste or smell.
Found In: “Punishment” By Nancy Miller Gomez
“The burnt colors of fear–more smell than color, vaporous and acrid” Line 15-16
Fear doesnt have a smell or color, so the speaker is using figurative language to exaggerate her feelings.
Fermented
Part of Speech: Verb
Definition: To incite or stir up (trouble or disorder).
Found In: “Fine Dining in Cell Block C” By Nancy Miller Gomez
“He mixes in the jelly packets from breakfast with butter substitute that looks like Vaseline, presses the sweet purple into a paste of peanut butter to create a base for a secret sauce fermented six days for this special dish”. Line 7-12
The speaker is using personification to describe how the food was made. Food cannot stir up trouble.
Anaphora
Part of Speech: Noun
Definition: The use of a word referring to or replacing a word used earlier in a sentence, to avoid repetition, such as do in I like it and so do they.
Source: Webster Dictionary
Found In: “Not a Mile” By Andrew Grace
“My students are sincerely trying to analyze death: its cadence and anaphora, its German origins. Line 21-23
Anaphora has nothing to do with death so the speaker is using figurative language to try and paint a picture in the readers head. I guess he is trying to explain how often death occurs.
Resurrection
Part of Speech: Noun
Definition: The action or fact of resurrecting or being resurrected.(in Christian belief) the rising of the dead at the Last Judgment.
Source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Found In: “Not a Mile” By Andrew Grace
“Not a mile from where my students show me outlines of what they are trying to say about resurrection, one of the men pulls a phone out of his mesh shorts and call Columbus”.
I feel resurrection was used to describe the men who were being brung back to consciousness by the Narcan. The word resurrection was used in its original context.