Read the poem and answer the questions given below it.
The Last Bus
At ten our shop pulls down its iron shutter,
and I run for the bus stand through the crowd.
The last bus out of the city is waiting,
its engine coughing, its old horn too loud.
A watchman sleeps, his cap upon his knees.
Two nurses share a samosa from one bag.
A mason holds his trowel in his lap
and wipes his hands on a cement-grey rag.
The city’s lights fall back behind the glass,
and then there are only the fields and the night.
Our bus is a lamp carried through the dark,
with sleepy faces in its yellow light.
I hear the windows rattle in their frames,
the brakes that hiss at every sleeping town,
the coins that clink in the conductor’s pouch,
his short, sharp whistle when someone gets down.
At the canal bridge I ring the bell and rise,
and step into the cool and quiet air.
A bulb is burning at our gate far off,
and Amma, still awake, is sitting there.
Identify the figure of speech used in the line:
“Our bus is a lamp carried through the dark”
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Metaphor
Metaphor:
- A metaphor calls one thing another, without “like” or “as”.
- The line says the bus “is a lamp”. It does not say the bus is like a lamp. The lit bus moving through the dark fields looks like one small light being carried. Example: The classroom was a zoo when the teacher left.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: Simile — Incorrect. A simile compares two different things using “like” or “as”. Example: Her hands were as cold as ice.
Option 2: Personification — Incorrect. Personification gives human actions or feelings to a thing. Example: The old door groaned when I pushed it.
Option 4: Alliteration — Incorrect. Alliteration is the same first sound repeated in words close together. Example: Big brown bears live in the hills.