Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow:
SMOKE
Light – winged smoke! Icarian bird,
Melting thy pinions in thy upward flight:
Lark without song, and the messenger of dawn,
Circling above the hamlets as thy nest:
Or else, departing dream, and shadowy form
Of midnight, vision gathering up thy skirts:
By night star-veiling, and by day
Darkening the light and blotting out the sun:
Go thou, my incence, upward from this hearth,
And ask the gods to pardon this clear flame,
Henry David Thoreau
Which figure of speech is implicit in ‘light winged smoke!’?
Correct Answer :
Apostraphe
Solution :
The correct option is Apostrophe (Option A).
Explanation:
An apostrophe is a figure of speech in which a speaker directly addresses an absent person, an abstract concept, or an inanimate object/force of nature as if it were present and capable of understanding.
In the opening line of the poem, "Light – winged smoke! Icarian bird,", the poet directly addresses the "smoke," which is an inanimate object. By speaking directly to the smoke and calling out to it ("Go thou, my incense..."), the poet employs the figure of speech known as an apostrophe.
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