Directions : Read the poem given below and answer the questions that follow by…
2021
Directions : Read the poem given below and answer the questions that follow by selecting the correct/most appropriate options :
That time of year thou mayst in me behold,
When yellow leaves, or none, or few do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou seest the twilight of such day,
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death’s second self that seals up all in rest.
In me thou seest the glowing of such fire,
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed, whereon it must expire,
Consumed with that which it was nourished by.
This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well, which thou must leave ere long.
‘That on the ashes of his youth doth lie’,
Which figure of speech has been used in the underlined phrase?
- A.
Simile
- B.
Metaphor
- C.
Personification
- D.
Alliteration
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
A metaphor is a figure of speech that makes an implicit, direct comparison between two unlike things by describing one thing directly as the other, without using a connecting word such as 'like' or 'as'. This differs from a simile, which uses such a connecting word; personification, which gives a non-human thing human qualities or actions; and alliteration, which is the repetition of the same initial consonant sound in nearby words.
In the phrase 'That on the ashes of his youth doth lie', the poet directly equates his spent vitality with 'ashes' — the remains of a burnt-out fire — without any connecting word such as 'like' or 'as'. This continues the extended fire image begun two lines earlier ('the glowing of such fire, / That on the ashes of his youth doth lie'), where the speaker's youth is pictured as fuel that has already been consumed.
Simile is ruled out because no connecting word such as 'like' or 'as' links 'youth' and 'ashes' — for example, the line does not read 'his youth was like ashes'.
Personification is ruled out because 'ashes' is not shown performing a human action or displaying a human trait; the line only states a direct equivalence, not an animated behaviour.
Alliteration is ruled out because the words in the phrase — 'ashes', 'of', 'his', 'youth' — do not share a repeated initial consonant sound.
Since the comparison is direct, implicit, and unmarked by 'like' or 'as', the figure of speech in 'ashes of his youth' is a metaphor, confirming the saved answer.