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Question
Complete the table listing the poetic devices used by Shelley in Ozymandias.
| Poetic Device | Lines from the poem |
| Alliteration | ...and sneer of cold command |
| Synecdoche (substitution of a part to stand for the whole, or the whole to stand for a part) | the hand that mock'd them |
Solution
Alliteration
Repetition of a initial sound
Two vast and trunkless legs …
cold command,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed;
boundless and bare
lone and level sands stretch …………
Anastrophe
Inversion of the normal word order
… well those passions read (normally, read those passions well)
Enjambement (also spelled without the first e)
Carrying the sense of one line of verse over to the next line without a pause
… a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
“Whose frown, And wrinkled lip is the enjambement.
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
‘round the decay begins the enjambement.
Synecdoche
Substitution of a part to stand for the whole, or the whole to stand for a part
The hand that mocked them,
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RELATED QUESTIONS
Find examples of the use of interesting sounds (Onomatopoeia) from the poem and explain their effect on the reader.
| 1. The ice 'cracked and growled, and roared and howled' |
Coleridge uses onomatopoeic words which use harsh 'ck' sounds to make the ice sound brutal. He also gives the ice animal sounds to give the impression it has come alive and is attacking the ship |
Although this text speaks of factual events and situations of misery it transforms these situations with an almost poetical prose into a literary experience. How does it do so? Here are some literary devices:
• Hyperbole is a way of speaking or writing that makes something sound better or more exciting than it really is. For example: Garbage to them is gold.
• A Metaphor, as you may know, compares two things or ideas that are not very similar. A metaphor describes a thing in terms of a single quality or feature of some other thing; we can say that a metaphor “transfers” a quality of one thing to another. For example: The road was a ribbon of light.
• Simile is a word or phrase that compares one thing with another using the words “like” or “as”. For example: As white as snow.
Carefully read the following phrases and sentences taken from the text. Can you identify the literary device in each example?
1. Saheb-e-Alam which means the lord of the universe is directly in contrast to what Saheb is in reality.
2. Drowned in an air of desolation.
3. Seemapuri, a place on the periphery of Delhi yet miles away from it, metaphorically.
4. For the children it is wrapped in wonder; for the elders it is a means of survival.
5. As her hands move mechanically like the tongs of a machine, I wonder if she knows the sanctity of the bangles she helps make.
6. She still has bangles on her wrist, but not light in her eyes.
7. Few airplanes fly over Firozabad.
8. Web of poverty.
9. Scrounging for gold.
10. And survival in Seemapuri means rag-picking. Through the years, it has acquired the proportions of a fine art.
11. The steel canister seems heavier than the plastic bag he would carry so lightly over his shoulders.
Pick out from the poem two examples of each.
Alliteration
Pick out from the poem two examples of each.
Metaphor
Choose the correct Figure of speech that occurs in the following line. Justify your choice.
Some shape of beauty moves away the pall ____________.
‘I hear the bright bee hum.’ The poet has used the word ‘hum’ that indicates the sound made by the bee. This is an example of Onomatopoeia. The poet has used different figures of speech like alliteration, inversion, and hyperbole in the poem. Identify them and pick out the lines accordingly.
Alliteration
In poetry, very often, there are lines in which the poet seems to talk directly to an absent person, an abstract idea, or a thing/object. Such a tactic/device used by the poet is the Figure of Speech ‘Apostrophe’.
For example,
Twinkle, twinkle little star ...
Death! Where is thy sting?
O, Caveman! I wish I could live with you.
Now, complete the following, creating an example of an Apostrophe of your own.
- O, Life! How ______
- Dear God, Please ______
- Books! You are ______
- Exams! I wish ______
- O, You beautiful sky ______
Identify the Figures of speech used from those given in the bracket.
(Simile/ Repetition/ Antithesis/ Personification/ Metaphor/ Alliteration/ Apostrophe)
With worn-out tools ____________.
Pick from the poem lines which contain the Figures of speech.
Inversion
The Figure of Speech ‘ Apostrophe’ exists throughout the poem. Pick out the line where the poet directly addresses.
the sea-shore
- ____________
- ____________
