What are the figures of speech in the poem vet by guy boas?
Answers
Figures of speech: a word or phrase used in a non-literal sense for rhetorical or vivid effect.
Figures of speech used in the poem:
Simile: the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid
Metaphor: a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.
Hyperbole: exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.
Personification: the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form.
1) The coat of the horse is not shining like silk
The figure of speech used here is a simile, “like silk”.
Comparing the coat of the horse with silk but it doesn’t literally means the coat is silk.
2) If the bear’s too full of buns
The figure of speech used here is hyperbole.
‘Full of buns’ doesn’t literally mean the bear has buns all over its body. It means the bear is attacked by some disease which produces lumps in its body.
3) If the cobra eats her sons
The figure of speech used here is a metaphor.
Cobra eating the bear’s sons literally doesn’t mean the cobra is actually looking for the bear’s sons but any animals which are small in size and not very intelligent to escape from their enemies.
4) If the panther has a wife who chews his ears
The figure of speech used here is a metaphor.
‘Chews his ears’ doesn’t literally mean the panther is chewing the ears of another panther but it means that the panther is a troublesome panther or a panther who seems sick in some way.
5) If hyenas will not laugh at keeper’s jokes
The figure of speech used here is personification.
The hyenas literally don’t laugh. They seem to like having a smiling face. ‘Smiling’ is a human trait. Here it means that there is some problem with the hyena’s health.
6) If the crocodile turns cannibal
The figure of the speech used here is a metaphor. The crocodile literally doesn’t turn into a cannibal but it acquires the nature of a cannibal i.e., eating humans.
7) The omniscient, the vet.
The figure of speech used here is a metaphor. Omniscient means, someone who is supposed to know everything. The vet might not know everything but is decided by the world as an omniscient who knows everything about every animal.
8) Don’t attempt to attend the zoological crowd.
The figure of speech used here is a metaphor.
‘Zoological crowd’ doesn’t literally mean anything that’s in the zoo but anything that is not human, but any animal living outside and inside the zoo.
The poem Vet by Guy Boas has as its central theme the concept that the human beings can relate their problems to the doctor when they are diseased.
But animals cannot explain their feeling and pains when they are taken to a vet.
And therefore, the vet needs to be cautious taking care of the pets and understanding their difficulties.