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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 |
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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
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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?
Match the Figures of Speech with the correct definition.
| Poetic Devices | |
| Figure | Definition |
| (1) Metaphor | (a) The use of the same sound at the beginning of words. |
| (2) Alliteration | (b) An implied comparison. |
| (3) Onomatopoeia | (c) A comparison between two different things, especially a phrase, containing the words ‘like’ or ‘as’. |
| (4) Simile | (d) A word that resembles the sound it represents. |
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.
..... not one is demented with the mania of owning things.
Pick out two lines that contain the following figures of speech.
Alliteration
Explain the Figure of Speech in the following line.
Rest in the bottom lay-PUN because.....
Explain the Figure of Speech in the following line.
And rest in nature, not the God of Nature-REPETITION because.....
‘Pun’ can be defined as a play on words based on their different meanings. Example: ‘Writing with a broken pencil is pointless.’ In this poem, there is an example of Pun. Find and make a sentence of your own. Share a joke with the class where the use of ‘Pun’ creates humour.
Find out examples from the poem.
Antithesis
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 out lines that contain:
Pun
Identify the Figures of speech used from those given in the bracket.
(Simile/ Repetition/ Antithesis/ Personification/ Metaphor/ Alliteration/ Apostrophe)
“If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs”
Complete the following example of Hyperbole using words from the bracket below.
She wept____________of tears.
Pick from the poem lines which contain the Figures of speech.
Interrogation
The Figure of Speech ‘Apostrophe’ exists throughout the poem. Pick out the line where the poet directly addresses.
the dead Captain
- ____________
- ____________
Find from the poem, one example of the following.
Alliteration
Find from the poem, one example of the following.
Repetition
Find from the poem, one example of the following.
Exclamation
Find from the poem, one example of the following.
Antithesis
