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Difficulty: MediumAnalysis of Figures of Speech and Literary Devices in Unseen Poetry

Read the unseen poem extract below:

"The silent sea wept tears of greyish mist,
And kissed the shore with cold, reluctant lips;
While twilight held the world in shadowed fist,
And swallowed whole the silhouettes of ships."

What dominant literary device is employed in the line "The silent sea wept tears of greyish mist"?

  1. PersonificationAnswer
  2. B
    Metaphor
  3. C
    Apostrophe
  4. D
    Oxymoron

Answer

Personification is the dominant literary device in the specified line.
The line endows the sea with human emotions and physical actions ('wept tears'), which is the defining characteristic of personification.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the line for figurative language expressions.
Identified the human action of 'weeping tears' attributed to 'the silent sea'.
Determining whether human qualities are assigned to non-human objects or nature.
2
Match the identified figure of speech to standard literary definitions.
Giving human capabilities and emotions (weeping tears) to an inanimate entity (the sea) corresponds directly to personification.
Distinguishing personification from other figurative devices like metaphor or oxymoron.

Key Concept

Analysis of Figures of Speech and Literary Devices in Unseen Poetry
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Analysis of Figures of Speech and Literary Devices in Unseen Poetry

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