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Difficulty: MediumLiterary Devices and Figurative Language

Fill in the blank with the correct figure of speech represented in the literary excerpt.

Answer:In the poetic line, 'Fifty sails entered the harbour to defend the coastal realm,' the term 'sails' is used to refer to entire ships, illustrating the figure of speech known as 【synecdoche】.

Answer

synecdoche
Synecdoche occurs when a part of something is used to represent the whole. In this line, 'sails'—which are physical parts of sea vessels—represent the complete ships.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Examine the relationship between the word 'sails' and what it signifies in the passage.
The word 'sails' refers to a specific physical component of a ship, which stands in for the entire ship.
A literary device that uses a part of an object to represent the whole structure (or the whole to represent a part) is called synecdoche.

Key Concept

Distinction between Synecdoche and Metonymy in Poetry
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Literary Devices and Figurative Language

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