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Question
In poetry, when words/ideas are arranged in ascending order of importance, the figure of speech used is called ‘Climax’. For example, Man should work for his family, his country, but most of all for God.
- Pick out two examples of ‘Climax’ from the poem.
Solution
- to go out and fight for it, work day and night for it give up your time and your peace and your sleep for it
- sweat for it, fret for and plan for it and lose all your terror of the opposition for it.
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RELATED QUESTIONS
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 |
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 one example of the following Figure of Speech.
Alliteration : _______________.
Choose the correct Figure of speech that occurs in the following line. Justify your choice.
Some shape of beauty moves away the pall ____________.
Identify the Figure of Speech in the following line.
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God.
Explain the Figure of Speech in the following line.
Bestow this jewel also on my creature-METAPHOR because ______________________.
‘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 ______
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 dead Captain
- ____________
- ____________
