17 pages • 34 minutes read
How to Triumph Like a Girl
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Literary Devices
Form and Meter
“How to Triumph Like a Girl” is a compact poem that almost mimics a sonnet. The word sonnet comes from the Italian term meaning “little song”, and they are traditionally between 14 and 16 lines. They use rhyme and regular meter to create a strong, predictable rhythm. However, American sonnets and modern sonnets tend to be more informal, abandoning strict schemes of rhyme and meter while still adhering to the principle of brevity. “How to Triumph Like a Girl” is 18 lines long. Most lines are between 8 – 10 syllables, creating a compact image on the page and a strong if not totally predictable rhythm. This conciseness enhances the major theme of the poem, which is displaying the confidence and strength of women. The short lines present the speaker as confident that what she says will be taken as true without the need to labor the explanation.
Metaphor
Metaphor comes from the Latin “metaphora,” meaning “carrying over” and the Greek “metaphora” meaning “transference”. Using a metaphor allows a poet to point out the similarities between two things, carrying over similar attributes or meaning between them. The central literary device in “How to Triumph” is a bridge between the speaker of the poem and the horses. In this poem she describes what she likes about the “lady horses” (Line 1) and then how she feels inspired by them, how she feels a kinship with them. By aligning the heart of the horses with her own, she illustrates that they both are literally powered by their hearts. At the same time the horses and the hearts are metaphors for physical might and social power. The heart is what propels the horses forward physically, and their physical skill is what wins them social power.
Apostrophe
Throughout the poem the speaker addresses the reader directly. With the line “let’s be honest” (Line 7) she creates a sense of intimacy between herself and the reader. The speaker does not state it directly, but a reader could infer that she is talking to fellow “ladies” or at least speaking with the kind of intimacy women use when they are talking candidly with their friends. She furthers this intimacy when she asks the reader directly, “Don’t you want to believe it?” (Line 14) and then asks
Don’t you want to lift my shirt and see
the huge beating genius machine
that that thinks, no, it knows
it’s going to come in first (Lines 15-18).
To lift a shirt is a personal act. Here the speaker continues to invite the reader into a realm of familiarity and making herself the subject of the poem. She puts herself on display for the audience reading the poem, saying that she will allow them to “lift [her] shirt and see” her heart (Line 15), which is a metaphor for her power. This may be a comment on the way women who own their power are expected to not only “win” races, but to also live as an example for other women to follow. It is traditionally seen as feminine for women to look out for one another and to survive and thrive through cooperation rather than through individual feats of strength.
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By Ada Limón
