Read the given stanza carefully and choose the option that correctly identifies the figures of speech used:-
“Hope” is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops-at all
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:-
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → metaphor and personification
The lines open Emily Dickinson’s poem “‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers”, in which hope is pictured as a small bird.
Metaphor and personification:
- Metaphor says that one thing is another, without "like" or "as". "Hope is the thing with feathers" presents hope as a bird.
Example: The classroom was a zoo when the teacher left. - Personification gives human or living qualities to an idea or object. Hope "perches in the soul", "sings the tune without the words" and "never stops", as if it were alive.
Example: The wind whispered through the trees.
The other figures of speech named in the options:
- Simile: a comparison made with like or as.
Example: Her face shone like the moon. - Metonymy: the name of something closely linked is used in place of the thing meant.
Example: The crown announced new taxes. - Pun: a play on a word with two meanings or on words that sound alike.
Example: A bicycle cannot stand on its own because it is two-tired. - Assonance: the same vowel sound repeated in words close together.
Example: The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: simile and personification — Incorrect. Personification is present, but there is no simile: hope is not compared to a bird with "like" or "as".
Option 3: metonymy and pun — Incorrect.
- No closely linked name stands for something else, so there is no metonymy.
- No word is used for a double meaning, so there is no pun.
Option 4: assonance and simile — Incorrect. There is no simile in the stanza, and the lines are not built on repeated vowel sounds; they are built on the picture of hope as a bird.