Guess the stylistic device
Knowledge flows where screens do gleam,
Check behind the teaching dream
“But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.” (William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet)
Answer: Metaphor – Juliet is compared to the sun, symbolizing her beauty and radiance.
Where light streams in, soft and bright,
Search the fabric that blocks the light.
“I’m paralyzed with happiness.” (F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby)
Answer: Oxymoron – Combines contradictory ideas of paralysis and happiness to emphasize Daisy’s conflicting emotions, showing her shallow and dramatic nature.
The leader’s table holds some might,
Look beneath—there hides the light!
“The silence was as thick as the forest.” (Henry David Thoreau, Walden)
Answer: Simile – a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid.
Where focus starts, right and low,
The first row hides what you must know.
“We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.” (Ernest Hemingway, The Wild Years)
Answer: Irony – Highlights the paradox of human imperfection in the pursuit of mastery, presenting a humble reflection on life and skill.
Step outside, take a glance,
Left on the wall, here’s your chance.
“His mind was a night sky, with only a few stars of thought shining faintly through the blackness.” (Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse)
Answer: Metaphor – The comparison of the mind to a night sky emphasizes the emptiness or confusion in the character’s thoughts, creating a sense of isolation and emotional darkness.
In the folds of fabric, there’s a key,
Ask Diana nicely, and you’ll see!
“His actions and his promises were both equally deceptive.” (Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice)
Answer: Zeugma – is the use of a word in the same grammatical but different semantic relations to two adjacent (neighboring) words in the context, the semantic relations being, on the one hand, literal, and on the other, transferred.
When devices lose their power,
Check the plug, your final hour.
“Winston woke up with the word ‘Shakespeare’ on his lips.” (George Orwell, 1984)
Answer: Metonymy – “Shakespeare” represents the literary culture and emotional resonance that contrasts with the oppressive, emotionless world Winston inhabits.
To the right, where warmth takes flight,
Search within for the clue in sight.
“She was so beautiful that every man who saw her instantly fell in love, and the sun seemed to dim in comparison.” (Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina)
Answer: Hyperbole – The exaggeration of the character’s beauty to such an extent that “every man” falls in love with her and the sun dims in comparison enhances her allure to an extraordinary level, making her beauty seem almost supernatural.
At the back, where seats align,
Look below where desks combine.
“He was a man of many words, and I can assure you, the words were not kind.” (William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury)
Answer: Periphrasis – is the nomination of an object or action through exhibiting certain features of this object or action.