From the given options select the figure of speech or the poetic device used in the expression.
‘Both wry with the laboured ease of loss’
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Oxymoron
"Laboured" (done with great effort) and "ease" (freedom from effort) are joined in "laboured ease", a calm that is forced and costs effort.
| Option | What it is | Example |
|---|---|---|
| (1) Simile | A simile compares two things using "like" or "as". The line has no such comparison. | Her eyes shone like stars. |
| (2) Personification | Personification gives human qualities to a non-human thing. No object or idea is made to act like a person in this line. | The wind whispered through the trees. |
| (3) Oxymoron (answer) | An oxymoron places two words of opposite meaning side by side for a striking effect. | The two friends stood in deafening silence after the quarrel. |
| (4) Metaphor | A metaphor says one thing is another, without "like" or "as". The line does not call anything by the name of something else. Its effect comes from joining opposites. | Time is a thief that steals our youth. |