Read the following lines and answer the question :
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed-and gazed-but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
Point out the figure of speech in the following line :
"I gazed-and gazed"
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → repetition
Repetition is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is used again for emphasis. In "I gazed-and gazed", the doubled verb stresses how long and how intently the poet looked at the daffodils, absorbed in the sight.
Example: "Water, water, every where, / Nor any drop to drink."
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: hyperbole — Incorrect. Hyperbole is deliberate exaggeration for effect; the line states a plain fact, with nothing overstated.
Example: I have told you this a million times.
Option 3: oxymoron — Incorrect. An oxymoron places two opposite words side by side; "gazed" and "gazed" are the same word, not opposites.
Example: The room fell into a deafening silence.
Option 4: simile — Incorrect. A simile compares two things using "like" or "as"; the line makes no comparison.
Example: She is as busy as a bee.