Which figure of speech is used in the line, ‘Who in the hollow of His hand’ in the poem the heart of the tree? Briefly explain the figure of speech.
Answers
Answer:
Various figures of speech are used in the poem 'The Heart of the Tree'. They are as follows:
•Hypophora
In the beginning of every stanza, we can see that the poet is asking a question (I.e. "What does he plant who plants a tree?") and then answering the question himself.
This technique of posing a question and immediately following it with an answer is known as hypophora.
•Personification
In the second line of the first stanza ("He plants a friend of the sun and sky"), the poet portrays the plant as a friend of the sun and sky and hence, gives the plant a human-like characteristic of having a friend.
•Metaphor
In the lines: "He plants the flag of breezes free; The shaft of beauty, towering high;" the poet compares the leafy branches of the tree to a flag that flutters in the breeze and its stem to a pole of the flag, that stands tall and firm. This indirect comparison between two unrelated objects are examples of metaphor.
•Metonymy
Metonymy is a figure of speech that replaces the name of a thing with the name of something else with which it is closely associated.
The poet uses this figure of speech in:
>"cool shade", "tender rain" (Stanza 2, second line)
>"seeds and buds" (Stanza 2, third line)
>"sap and leaf and wood" (Stanza 3, second line)
as he illustrates that all these blessings are present in every part of the tree.
•Anaphora
Anaphora is the figure of speech where a repition of the first part of the sentence occurs in order to achieve an artistic effect.
The poet uses this figure of speech in:
>"He plants a friend of sun and sky;
He plants a home
>"And seed and bud and days to be,
And years that fade and flush again;" (Stanza 2, third and fourth line)
>"He plants the glory of the plain;
He plants the forest's heritage;" (Stanza 2, fifth and sixth line)
•Synecdoche
Synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part is used to represent the whole of something. For example: "gray beard" refers to an old man.
The poet uses this figure of speech in:
>"The harvest of a coming age;
The joy that unborn eyes shall see-"
(Stanza 2, seventh and eighth line)
(Stanza 2, seventh and eighth line)as "coming age" refers to the future generation and "unborn eyes" refers to the children of the future.
Answer:
Metonymy is a figure of speech where one word or phrase is ubstituted by another one closely associated with it. In the first stanza of this poem, there are two metonyms. that the heaven is situated somewhere up in the sky.
Explanation: