Critiquing Pop Culture In Wicker's Poem

Literary devices play a vital role in Wicker’s poems “Ars Poetica in the Mode of J-Live” and “The Chronic” by uniting two poems together through the critique of pop culture, which would under other circumstances, have little to nothing in common. The reader can use literary devices as a means of representing the critique on pop culture to infer that Anna is a mild character by reason of the poem referencing birds while the mother is intense talking about smoking from a bong. Both poems raise the question of literary devices being useful in critiquing pop culture and creating similarities that bring them together. At first glance, the poems may seem like they do not have anything in common, but upon closer inspection, the reader can see the

Without much in common, anaphora and antistrophe are two of many literary devices that unites “Ars Poetica in the Mode of J-Live” and “The Chronic.” “Ars Poetica in the Mode of J-Live” uses anastrophe to repeat “Anna” (1, 3, 5…15, 17, and 19), the main character of the poem, at the end of each line. The speaker does this to convey the importance of Anna in the poem as she is at the end of everything. Also, “Ars Poetica in the Mode of J-Live” is based off of the song “Like This Anna” by J-Live, a direct reference to pop culture. Likewise, “The Chronic,” named after an album created by Dr. Dre, uses anaphora to repeat “& on & on & on” (67) which represents the continuing motion of life around the mother. The mother rambles on in the poem about multiple subjects from the “sun trickl[ing] into her thoughts” (18) to the “dirt roads/ & green, green grass” (44-45). As the mother rambles and stumbles through her life, the world continues to move forward without her. Another connection can be seen when combing the meaning of the first two quotes. “Anna” is repeated “& on &on & on” throughout the poem joining them together through the use of anaphora and antistrophe. The speaker does this so the reader can make connections with both poems and realize the pop culture references as well as similarities they share through the use of

Alliteration allows for both poems to find common ground in critiquing pop culture with the repetition of sounds. “Ars Poetica in the Mode of J-Live” uses alliteration when the speaker says “banged bare” (2) and “built by a bird’s/ beak” (16-17). Both quotes start with the letter “B,” which can be seen as ironic because the poem is about birds. The speaker uses alliteration with the letter “B” to reiterate the importance of the birds subliminally. Also, birds are creatures that are constantly flying and moving, similar to “The Chronic” in which life moves continually. “The Chronic” has different types of alliteration in the poem which reaffirms the claim that life continues shifting around us. This can be seen as the mother mentions the “sublime songs/ sun” (17-18), which can also relate to “Ars Poetica in the Mode of J-Live” due to the fact that birds fly outside in the sunlight. Another example is when the mother talks about a man’s “hand hooking her” (41) which sounds similar to a “bird’s/ beak” (16-17). The speaker uses tiny threads like these to allow the reader to make inferences to connect the poems together and analyze how and why they are similar in critiquing pop culture. Along with alliteration, the above quotes use imagery to help the reader make the connections between the two poems and their pop culture