Read the poem given below and answer the question by choosing the correct option:
"I cannot go to school today,"
Said little Peggy Ann McKay.
"I have the measles and the mumps,
A gash, a rash and purple bumps.
My mouth is wet, my throat is dry,
I'm going blind in my right eye.
My tonsils are as big as rocks,
I've counted sixteen chicken pox
And there's one more-that's seventeen,
And don't you think my face looks green?
My leg is cut-my eyes are blue-
It might be instamatic flu.
I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke,
I'm sure that my left leg is broke-
My hip hurts when I move my chin,
My belly button's caving in,
My back is wrenched, my ankle's sprained,
My 'pendix pains each time it rains.
My nose is cold, my toes are numb.
I have a sliver in my thumb.
My neck is stiff, my voice is weak,
I hardly whisper when I speak.
My tongue is filling up my mouth,
I think my hair is falling out.
My elbow's bent, my spine ain't straight,
My temperature is one-eight.
My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear,
There is a hole inside my ear.
I have a hangnail, and my heart is-what?
What's that? What's that you say?
You say today is... Saturday?
G'bye, I'm going out to play!"
The literary device used by the poet to highlight the number of ailments Peggy Ann Mckay seems to suffer from is :
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → hyperbole
Hyperbole:
- Hyperbole is deliberate exaggeration, a claim far beyond the truth, made for emphasis or humour.
- It is not meant to be taken literally.
- This poem: Peggy claims measles and mumps together, "tonsils as big as rocks", seventeen chicken pox, a temperature of "one-eight" and a shrunken brain, all at once. The sheer excess magnifies the number of her ailments and makes the excuse comic.
Example: I have told you a million times to shut the door.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: transferred epithet — Incorrect. A transferred epithet moves an adjective from the person it belongs to onto a thing connected with that person. The poem's adjectives describe the body parts themselves (stiff neck, bent elbow).
Example: He spent a sleepless night before the exam.
Option 2: oxymoron — Incorrect. An oxymoron puts two opposite words side by side; the poem has no such pair.
Example: The room fell into a deafening silence.
Option 4: asyndeton — Incorrect. Asyndeton is leaving out the conjunctions between words or clauses in a series. It concerns how the items are joined, not the exaggeration that makes the list of ailments so long; the poem even repeats "and" in "I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke".
Example: I came, I saw, I conquered.
Contrast: hyperbole exaggerates what is said; a transferred epithet moves an adjective to another noun, an oxymoron joins two opposite words, and asyndeton leaves out conjunctions.