IDENTIFICATION: Match the Appropriate Literary Term with Its Definition

Version A 4

Poetry Test

Figures of Speech

IDENTIFICATION: Match the appropriate literary term with its definition.

a.  apostrophe d. conceit g. synecdoche j. hyperbole

b.  metaphor e. allegory h. metonymy k. litotes

c.  simile f. personification i. symbol

1.  a trope in which a part signifies the whole or the whole a part

2.  a figure of speech that makes a direct comparison of two unlike objects (compares whole to whole)

3.  deliberate exaggeration or overstatement

4.  a direct address to something not ordinarily spoken to

5.  a direct comparison between parts of two unlike objects using like or as

6.  something that means more than what it is; an object, person, situation, or action that in addition to its literal meaning, suggests other meanings as well

7.  a narrative or description that has a second meaning beneath the surface

8.  an extended metaphor comparing two unlike objects with powerful effect; an elaborate comparison

9.  use of something closely related for the thing actually meant

10.  a figure of speech in which inanimate objects are given human characteristics

11.  understatement in which the negative of an antonym is used

APPLICATION: Indicate the figure(s) of speech used in each of the poems and/or poetry excerpts below. Some excerpts have more than one figure of speech. Choose all that apply.

a. apostrophe d. personification f. metonymy

b. metaphor e. synecdoche g. symbol

c. simile

12.  I gave to Hope a watch of mine: but he

An anchor gave to me. --George Herbert

13.  All the world’s a stage. --Shakespeare

14.  She walks in beauty, like the night --Byron

15.  When it comes, the landscape listens.

Shadows hold their light. --Emily Dickinson

16.  The crowns will find an heir. --Shakespeare

17.  Little Lamb who made thee? --Blake

18.  The red rose whispers of passion,

And the white rose breaths of love,

Oh, the red rose is a falcon,

And the white rose is a dove. --John Boyle

19.  Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art—

Not in lone splendor hung aloft the night,

And watching, with eternal lids apart,

Like nature’s patient, sleepless Eremite, --John Keats

20.  O tenderly the haughty day fills his blue urn with fire.

--Emerson

21.  When love with unconfined wings

Hovers within my gates,

And my divine Althea brings

To whisper in the grates;

When I lie tangled in her hair

And fettered to her eye… --Richard Lovelace

22.  Hope is a thing with feathers

That perches in the soul.

And sings a tune without words

And never stops at all. --Emily Dickinson

ANALYSIS: Read the following poem carefully before answering the questions that follow.

Love’s Diet

To what a cumbersome unwieldiness

And burdenous corpulence my love had grown

But that I did, to make it less

And keep it in proportion,

Give it a diet, made it feed upon

That which love worst endures, discretion.

Above one sigh a day I allowed him not,

Of which my fortune and my faults had part;

And if sometimes by stealth he got

A she sigh from my mistresses’ heart

And thought to feast on that, I let him see

‘Twas neither very sound, not meant to me.

If he wrung from me a tear, I brined it so

With scorn or shame that him it nourished not;

If he sucked hers, I let him know

‘Twas not a tear which he had got;

His drink was counterfeit as was his meat;

For eyes which roll towards all weep not, but sweat.

Whatever he would dictate, I writ that,

But burnt my letters. When she writ to me,

And that that favor made him fat,

I said, if any title be

Conveyed by this, ah, what doth it avail

To be the fortieth name in an entail?

Thus I reclaimed my buzzard love to fly

At what, and when, and how, and where I choose;

Now negligent of sport I lie,

And now as other falc’ners use,

I spring a mistress, swear, write, sigh, and weep;

And the game killed or lost, go talk, and sleep. --John Donne

23.  The extended metaphor of stanzas 1-4 compares love to

a)  an unwilling dieter

b)  an illness

c)  an unruly child

d)  a prisoner in jail

e)  a lawyer

24.  In the last line of the second stanza, the speaker suggest that

a)  the lady is deeply in love

b)  only men, not women, sigh for love

c)  the lady does not sigh for him

d)  the sighs of the lady are more genuine than his

e)  true love cannot feast on sighs

25.  According to the second and third stanzas, the food and drink by which love grows are

a)  faults and fortunes

b)  scorn and shame

c)  the heart and the eyes

d)  sighs and tears

e)  stealth and counterfeiting

26.  The metaphor of lines 22-24 compares winning the lady’s favor with

a)  finishing in the fortieth position in a race

b)  being obligated to work for forty days

c)  inheriting a fortune

d)  waiting until middle age to be married

e)  being placed very low on a long list

27.  According to the poem, which of the following is not a potentially fattening food?

a)  sighs

b)  a man’s tears

c)  a lady’s tears

d)  discretion

e)  love letters

28.  The figure of speech used through stanzas 1-4 is an example of

a)  simile

b)  personification

c)  irony

d)  metonymy

e)  apostrophe

29.  In the next-to-last line of the poem, the three verbs “sigh,” “weep,” and “write” are used to

I. Recall the events of stanzas 2, 3, and 4

II. Show how deeply the speaker now feels about love

III. Recount the expected behavior of a lover

a)  II only

b)  I and II only

c)  I and III only

d)  II and III only

e)  I, II, and III

30.  In stanza 5, all of the following words are part of the central metaphor EXCEPT

a)  “fly” (line 25)

b)  “negligent” (line 27)

c)  “spring” (line 29)

d)  “game” (line 30)

e)  “killed” (line 30)

EXTENDED RESPONSE: Choose TWO of the poems below, then for each poem write an organized, extended paragraph that indicates the effect of the author’s use of figures of speech (Be sure to identify the figures of speech). Use specific details from the poem to support your response.

To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,

Old Time is still a-flying;

And this same flower that smiles today

Tomorrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the Sun,

The higher he’s a getting,

The sooner will his race be run,

And nearer he’s to setting.

That age is best which is the first,

When youth and blood are warmer;

But being spent, the worse, and worst

Times still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time;

And while ye may, go marry;

For having lost but once your prime,

You may forever tarry.

--Robert Herrick

The Silken Tent

She is as in a field a silken tent

At midday when a sunny summer breeze

Has dried the dew and all its ropes relent,

So that in guys it gently sways at ease,

And its supporting central pole,

That is its pinnacle to heavenward

And signifies the sureness of the soul,

Seems to owe naught to any single cord,

But strictly held by none, is loosely bound

By countless silken ties of love and thought

To everything on earth the compass round,

And only by one’s going strictly taught

In the capriciousness of summer air

Is of the slightest bondage made aware.

--Robert Frost

I started Early—Took my Dog

I started Early -- Took my Dog --

And visited the Sea --

The Mermaids in the Basement

Came out to look at me --

And Frigates -- in the Upper Floor

Extended Hempen Hands --

Presuming Me to be a Mouse --

Aground -- upon the Sands --

But no Man moved Me -- till the Tide

Went past my simple Shoe --

And past my Apron -- and my Belt --

And past my Bodice -- too --

And made as He would eat me up --

As wholly as a Dew

Upon a Dandelion's Sleeve --

And then -- I started -- too --

And He -- He followed -- close behind --

I felt his Silver Heel

Upon my Ankle -- Then my Shoes

Would overflow with Pearl --

Until We met the Solid Town --

No One He seemed to know --

And bowing -- with a Might look --

At me -- The Sea withdrew –

--Emily Dickinson

Redemption

Having been tenant long to a rich Lord,
Not thriving, I resolved to be bold,
And make a suit unto him, to afford
A new small-rented lease, and cancell th’ old.
In heaven at his manour I him sought :
They told me there, that he was lately gone
About some land, which he had dearly bought
Long since on earth, to take possession.
I straight return’d, and knowing his great birth,
Sought him accordingly in great resorts ;
In cities, theatres, gardens, parks, and courts :
At length I heard a ragged noise and mirth
Of theeves and murderers : there I him espied,
Who straight, Your suit is granted, said, and died.

--George Herbert