Read the poem given below and answer the questions that follow by selecting…
2023
Read the poem given below and answer the questions that follow by selecting the correct/most appropriate option.
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.
‘And this same flower that smiles today.’
Identify the figure of speech used in this line.
- A.
Hyperbole
- B.
Simile
- C.
Metaphor
- D.
Personification
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Concept: Personification is a figure of speech in which a human quality, feeling, or action is given directly to a non-human thing — an object, an animal, or an abstract idea — as if it could think, feel, or act like a person. It is distinct from simile (an explicit comparison using the words "like" or "as"), metaphor (a direct equation that replaces one thing's identity with another's), and hyperbole (a deliberate, extreme exaggeration used for emphasis).
Application: In the line "And this same flower that smiles today," the verb "smiles" names a human facial expression. This action is assigned directly to "flower" — a plant, which cannot literally smile. Giving a human action to a non-human subject in this direct way is exactly what personification does.
Cross-check: Testing the line against each other device confirms the choice:
No comparison word such as "like" or "as" appears anywhere in the line, so the marker a simile requires is absent.
The flower is never equated with, or replaced by, some other single thing (as a metaphor would do); it stays a flower throughout the line and is simply given one added human trait.
Nothing in the line is stretched to an extreme or impossible scale for dramatic effect, so it is not an overstatement of degree.
Result: The line gives the flower the human act of smiling while the flower remains a flower, which is the defining signature of personification.