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Question
Find examples of the use of interesting sounds (Onomatopoeia) from the poem and explain their effect on the reader.
| 1. The ice 'cracked and growled, and roared and howled' |
Coleridge uses onomatopoeic words which use harsh 'ck' sounds to make the ice sound brutal. He also gives the ice animal sounds to give the impression it has come alive and is attacking the ship |
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Solution
| 1. The ice 'cracked and growled, and roared and howled' | Coleridge uses onomatopoeic words which use harsh 'ck' sounds to make the ice sound brutal. He also gives the ice animal sounds to give the impression it has come alive and is attacking the ship |
| 2. The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast. |
Roared is associated with wild animals such as lions. The sound used to portray the storm coming alive and roaring loudly at the ship. |
| 3. He struck with his o'rtaking wings | 'Struck' gives the impression of the storm hitting the ship in rage. |
| 4. The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew | The words "blew" and "flew" indicates the movements of the wind and the foam in a smooth manner. |
| 5. The ice did split with a thunder fit | The word "split" brings out the sound made by the ice while it was cracking. |
| 6. Came to the mariner's hollo! | The word "hollo" is the sound of the call of the mariners to the albatross. |
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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 |
Alliteration is the repetition of sounds in words, usually the first sound. Sibilance is a special form of alliteration using the softer consonants that create hissing sounds, or sibilant sounds. These consonants and digraphs include s, sh, th, ch, z, f, x, and soft c.
Onomatopoeia is a word that imitates the sound it represents for a rhetorical or artistic effect of bringing out the full flavor of words. The sounds literally make the meaning in such words as “buzz,” “crash,” “whirr,” “clang” “hiss,” “purr,” “squeak,” etc.lt Is also used by poets to convey their subject to the reader. For example, In the last lines of Sir Alfred Tennyson’s poem ‘Come Down, O Maid’, m and n sounds produce an atmosphere of murmuring Insects:
… the moan of doves in immemorial elms,
And murmuring of innumerable bees.
Notice how D H Lawrence uses both these devices effectively in the following stanza.
He reached down from a fissure in the earth-wall in the gloom
And trailed his yellow-brown slackness soft-bellied down, over the edge of the stone trough
And rested his throat upon the stone bottom,
And where the water had dripped from the tap, in a small clearness,
He sipped with his straight mouth,
Softly drank through his straight gums, into his slack long body,
Silently.
To what effect has the poet used these devices? How has it added to your understanding of the subject of the poem? You may record your understanding of snake characteristics under the following headings:
(a) Sound
(b) Movement
(c) Shape
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.
Identify the Figure of Speech in the following line.
..... not one is demented with the mania of owning things.
Explain the Figure of Speech in the following line.
Rest in the bottom lay-PUN because.....
Find out lines from the poem that are examples of following Figures of Speech.
| Figures of Speech | Lines |
| Repetition | ......................... |
| Alliteration | ......................... |
| Hyperbole | ......................... |
Find out examples from the poem.
Personification
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 ______
Alliteration is the occurrence of the same sound at the beginning of words in a phrase, sentence, etc. such as ‘That life is lived it's very best.’
Find out more examples of Alliteration from other poems in your book.
Identify the Figures of speech used from those given in the bracket.
(Simile/ Repetition/ Antithesis/ Personification/ Metaphor/ Alliteration/ Apostrophe)
With worn-out tools ____________.
Pick out lines that contain the following Figures of Speech.
Antithesis (Opposite ideas)
Match the lines of the poem with their Figures of speech.
| Group A | Group B | |
| (1) Whose woods these are I think I know | (a) | Alliteration |
| (2) The woods are lovely, dark and deep | (b) | Personification |
| (3) And miles to go before I sleep And miles to go before I sleep. | (c) | Inversion |
| (4) My little horse must think it queer | (d) | Repetition |
Complete the following example of Hyperbole using words from the bracket below.
Brrrr..! I am freezing to ____________.
Complete the following example of Hyperbole using words from the bracket below.
I shall come over in just a ____________
Pick from the poem lines which contain the Figures of speech.
Interrogation
Pick from the poem lines which contain the Figures of speech.
Onomatopoeia
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.
Exclamation
