: Using a possessive pronoun before using its antecedent in a poem I was seriously wondering if it's a problem to use the antecedent, which is "Mr Spooner", after the possessive pronoun

Vote Up Vote Down

This doesn't break any rule of grammar. It's common enough (in general, not in poetry specifically) to have a name: cataphora.

If you use a deictic word like his to refer to something that is never mentioned in the text, that is called exophora.

Something to keep in mind is that a poem is often preceded by a title that could refer to the same thing as a third-person pronoun in the body of the poem.

Here are some poems I found from a quick search on poetryfoundation.org that use cataphora or exaphora with a third-person pronoun like his or She:

"One morn I left him in his bed", by Elizabeth Drew Barston Stoddard
"[His father carved umbrella handles...]", by Charles Reznikoff
"My Sister's Sleep", by Dante Gabriel Rossetti:

She fell asleep on Christmas Eve: [...]

(0)

Vote Up Vote Down

Poems often use an implied antecedent and an implied or elided character. I frequently see "I", "You", "Him" and "Her" (and their possessive forms) with no explanation of who any of those persons are. For just one example consider the famous "Battle Hymn of the Republic" which begins with the line "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord." The Narrator / I-figure is never identified in any way.

(0)