Great Regulars: Whatever the muse does must be accepted,

because its force is soul force, and the mere human cannot understand or control such force or even begin to comprehend its relationship to time. Only the muse can "privilege [her] time/To what [she] will."

So while the speaker can complain, he can also create his poems based on the supposed frustrating schedule of the creative force, and he chides the muse with exaggerated blame, even referring to it as a "crime."

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Shakespeare Sonnet 58

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Thoreau's "Prayer" relies chiefly on literal language. He uses no imagery or metaphor. Perhaps one could glean a hint at a metaphor in the line, "in my action I may soar as high"--one infers a bird here, but only for a brief moment. (Such inadequacies testify to the "poetaster" that he claimed to be.)

He does reply on synecdoche in phrases such as "my weak hand," in which "hand" refers to his whole physical being, and "my relenting lines," in which "lines" represent the whole poem.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Thoreau's 'Prayer'

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