How do Shakespeare and the studied poets use literacy techniques to communicate their ideas about fate?

In this essay I will look at how Shakespeare, Shelley and Kipling use literacy techniques to communicate their ideas about fat, in the studied texts; Romeo and Juliet, A Song in a Storm, and Ozymandias. There are three main techniques that I will be focusing on, being metaphors, Shakespeare was in Elizabethan times and therefore Romeo and Juliet was written in that time, Shakespeare was every religious which was why he felt so strongly about it fate and religion in his poem. In this time  Song in the storm was in the written in the 18th century by Percy Bysshe Shelley which was the enlightenment era. Rudyard Kipling wrote Ozymandias during the war , which was why he felt everything good doesn’t last for every because war things that were treasure-able was destroyed and ruined.

Shakespeare uses metaphors throughout Romeo and Juliet in order to represents fate, one of the main examples of this is in Act 1 Scene 4 before the Capulet party. Romeo is talking to Benvolio about going to the party, and says “He who hath steerage of my course shall direct my sail”. This means God is his captain and controls his ship so he will decide his fate. This is clear as it suggests that Romeo is happy to give himself up to God, and that he is willing to follow the path that has been set for him, because he cannot change the fate that has been set for him. Shakespeare also uses a metaphor in the quote “my mind misgives, some consequence yet hanging in the stars”, as Romeo is looking into the heavens and sees something coming that he thinks will lead to: “by some vile forfeit of untimely death”, being an unnatural early death. Shakespeare is telling the reader here that Romeo has put his life into Gods hands.
Furthermore, Rudyard Kipling always uses metaphors to represent fate in Song in the storm. The poem is about taking pride in your country and never giving up. Kipling is saying that if you start something, giving up would be turning your back on your country. Kipling uses metaphors to present fate in the line “Almost these mindless waters work”, suggesting that the sea out of the crew’s control, and that they do not have the power to alter their path, so they must carry on and let God guide them along the way. This can be linked to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet because Romeo did not have control over his fate, and suggested that he couldn’t change the path that was set for him. In Kipling’s a song in a storm, the captain had decided that the crew couldn’t give up and that turning back was against the country and was like losing.

Shelley also uses metaphors to represent fate in Ozymandias. The poem sets the scene of this once great Kingdom and king Ozymandias, but now it shows how everything rots over time, and that this once great King could not outrun his fate. This is shown in the quote ‘two vast and trunkless legs of stone’, because a big statue represents a powerful and strong man which is now rotten, decayed and forgotten. Despite all three texts using metaphors, Shelley is the author who uses the least amount of metaphors to represent fate.

Iambic meter is used in Romeo and Juliet to represent the passing of time and that vast amount scenes happened in a short period of time, an example is that Romeo and Juliet met it each other fell in love instantly, the moment they laid their sights on each other and died within two weeks of that day (. The death of these two lovers, the death of Romeo and Juliet then buried the hatchet between the two families all because of the one look they set on each other. The beat also represents the almighty and inevitable fate of the two lovers, what’s deceived to be a perfect by the friar Lawrence is foiled by the almighty power an God and the path he set. The plan was give Juliet an antidote which will make her appear to be dead, and she will be put in an tomb and message would be sent to Romeo, and he will pick her up when he wakes up and runaway but the message wasn’t sent because of an disease, that been released, and friar Lawrence unable keep his balance unable to stop himself stumbling over but instead ends up arriving to Juliet unawaken and kills himself. This is an example of how you can’t stop fate and how God will ensure of it.

Iambic meter is used in Ozymandias to symbolized fate, to show that through the poem fate is inevitable and indestructible, and can’t be stopped. For example, iambic meter was repetitive throughout and never changed and was inevitable as of the story of Ozymandias, which was even though he was powerful, he was human and he could not outrun his ultimate fate which was death. A quote from Ozymandias that supported this was “which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things”. Ozymandias thought he was invincible, untouchable as he thought he was immortal and that he would live for ever, but at the passing off time he died because he was touchable and was human.

The coincidence of when the servant invites Romeo to the party leads to love at first sight, killing and the death of the two lovers and peace and end hatred of the families.

Shakespeare reveals his preoccupation with fate with Romeo through the beginning of the play, in the prologue. In this first paragraph it shows at Romeo and Juliet will fall in love with each other and which will cause their death and bury the hatchet between the two families, Montague and Capulet. This is a method which is known as foreshadowing, which gives ideas about the future and is the most dominant example of this in Romeo and Juliet. A more dramatic foreshadowing moment is when Mercutio fights for Romeo’s honour and dies when Romeo then attempts to stop but ends up causing Mercutio death. Before he dies he then says ‘a plague of both of your houses’, this then does come true as Romeo, Juliet and others die as an result of Mercutio death.

The key changing moment of poem is also known as the Volta. In Ozymandias, the Volta is ‘And on the pedestal these words appear:’ this is the moment which everything changed, where Ozymandias started to crumble, before this he was almighty, powerful this was the past, possibly century ago and now his dead

The seas are relentless, uncontrollable and unpredictable and beyond the humans power as like the waves. The waves are repetitive I know this because of the constant use of ‘welcome fate’s discourtesy’ implying that the seas continue. The technique that is used here is the constant you use of the same words known as repetition. For example ‘welcome fate discourtesy’ this is technique is used to represent that the waves go on and on and isn’t effected of its, fighting and wars. This can be linked to fate because as like fate the waves are continuous and can’t be effected by surroundings and is in the hands of God this is like Romeo and Juliet and how Romeo is forced to fulfil his fate. This can also be linked to Ozymandias because like the crew in a song in a storm, he was unable to avoid his inevitable fate which was death.

As an summary Shakespeare and the studied poets use literacy techniques to communicate their ideas about fate by using metaphors, iambic meter and coincidence.