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Question
Identify the Figure of Speech in the following line.
They do not sweat and whine about their condition.
Solution
Tautology: This sort of "figure of speech" involves two or more words in a sentence which have the similar meaning.
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RELATED QUESTIONS
An oxymoron is a figure of speech that combines normally-contradictory terms. The most common form of oxymoron involves an adjective-noun combination of two words like- failed success
Writers often use an oxymoron to call attention to an apparent contradiction. For example, Wilfred Owen's poem The Send-off refers to soldiers leaving for the front line, who "lined the train with faces grimly gay." The oxymoron 'grimly gay' highlights the
contradiction between how the soldiers feel and how they act: though they put on a brave face and act cheerful, they feel grim. Some examples of oxymorons are- dark sunshine, cold sun, living dead, dark light, almost exactly etc. The story Mrs. Packletide's Tiger has a number of oxymorons. Can you identify them and write them down in your notebooks?
The poet uses alliteration to heighten the musical quality of the sonnet. Working in pairs, underline the examples of alliteration in the poem.
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 |
There are a number of literary devices used in the poem. Some of them have been listed below. Choose the right ones and write them down in the table as shown in the example. In each of the cases, explain what they mean.
| simile, metaphor, alliteration, personification. hyperbole, repetition, |
| 1. The Wedding-Guest stood still, And listens like a three years' child: | Simile; the wedding guest was completely under the control of the mariner |
| 2. Below the kirk, below the hill, Below the lighthouse top | |
| 3. The sun came up upon the left, Out of the sea came he | |
| 4. The bride hath paced into the hall, Red as a rose is she | |
| 5. And now the storm-blast came, and he was tyrannous and strong: | |
| 6. With sloping masts and dipping prow, As who pursued with yell and blow Still treads the shadow of his foe | |
| 7. The ice was here, the ice was there, The ice was all around |
The poem is entirely metaphorical. Pick out the comparisons from the poem.
- world - ____________
- actors - ____________
- birth and death - ____________
- school boy - ____________
- the lover's sigh - ____________
- spotted leopard - ____________
- last stage (old age) - ____________
Pick out from the poem two examples of each.
Simile
Choose the correct Figure of speech that occurs in the following line. Justify your choice.
A thing of beauty is a joy for ever____________
Pick out lines that contain:
Alliteration
Pick out line that contain the following Figures of Speech.
Repetition
Find from the poem, one example of the following.
Repetition
