Read the poem given below and answer the questions that follow (Q. Nos. 115 to 120) by selecting the correct/most appropriate option.

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
  Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today
  Tomorrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
  The higher he’s a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
  And nearer he’s to setting.

That age is best which is the first,
  When youth and blood are warmer;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
  Times still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time,
  And while ye may, go marry;
For having lost but once your prime,
  You may forever tarry.

Identify the figure of speech used in : ‘The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun’.

The correct option is Metaphor.

Explanation and Analysis:

A metaphor is a figure of speech that makes a direct comparison between two unrelated things by stating that one thing is another, highlighting a shared characteristic without using explicit comparison words such as "like" or "as".

In the given line from Robert Herrick's poem ("To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time"):

“The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun”

The speaker directly compares "the sun" to a "glorious lamp of heaven". Since this direct comparison is made without using "like" or "as" (which would make it a simile), the figure of speech used here is a Metaphor.

Why other options are incorrect:

• Hyperbole: An exaggerated statement not meant to be taken literally. This line is a direct figurative comparison rather than an extreme exaggeration.
• Simile: A figure of speech that compares two things using "like" or "as" (e.g., "the sun is like a lamp"). Here, no such connecting word is used.
• Personification: Giving human traits to non-human objects. Although the sun is later referred to with "he" in the stanza, the phrase "glorious lamp of heaven" itself is a metaphor comparing the celestial body (sun) to a source of light (lamp).