Version A
1
Poetry Test
Figures of Speech
IDENTIFICATION: Match the appropriate literary term with its definition.
a.
b.
c.
apostrophe
metaphor
simile
d. conceit
e. allegory
f. personification
g. synecdoche
h. metonymy
i. symbol
j. hyperbole
k. litotes
1.
2.
a trope in which a part signifies the whole or the whole a part
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
b. metaphor
c. simile
d. personification
e. synecdoche
f. metonymy
g. symbol
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,
Version A
2
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;
Version A
3
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
Version A
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29. In the next-to-last line of the poem, the three verbs “sigh,” “weep,” and “write” are used to
I.
II.
III.
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
Recall the events of stanzas 2, 3, and 4
Show how deeply the speaker now feels about love
Recount the expected behavior of a lover
II only
I and II only
I and III only
II and III only
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
Version A
5
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
Version A
6
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