Question

20. Oh then our maze of tunneled stone

Grew thin and treacherous as air,

The castle was lost without a groan,

The famous citadel overthrown,

a) What is the poetic device employed in the second line?

b) What happened to the castle?​

Answer 1

This excerpt is from the poem 'The Castle' by Edwin Muir.

'Grew thin and treacherous as air,'

a) What is the poetic device employed in the second line?

• The poetic device employed is a simile.
• A simile is a figure of speech in which an object/person is compared to another subject with characteristic qualities.
• In this case, the 'maze' of the castle is compared to 'air' because it has become 'thin' and treacherous.'

• This implies that the walls have become weak and breakable.

b) What happened to the castle?​  

• The castle was overthrown and destroyed by the enemies of the land.
• The expression 'without a groan' implies that the castle was brought down easily.

These are the part-wise answers to this reference to context.