Common Core: 10th Grade English Language Arts : Language
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for Common Core: 10th Grade English Language Arts
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Example Questions
Example Question #11 : Language
Passage adapted from Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1798)
There passed a weary time. Each throat
Was parched, and glazed each eye.
A weary time! a weary time!
How glazed each weary eye,
When looking westward, I beheld
A something in the sky.
At first it seemed a little speck,
And then it seemed a mist:
It moved and moved, and took at last
A certain shape, I wist.
A speck, a mist, a shape, I wist!
And still it neared and neared:
As if it dodged a water-sprite,
It plunged and tacked and veered.
With throats unslaked, with black lips baked,
We could not laugh nor wail;
Through utter drought all dumb we stood!
I bit my arm, I sucked the blood,
And cried, A sail! a sail!
With throats unslaked, with black lips baked,
Agape they heard me call:
Gramercy! they for joy did grin,
And all at once their breath drew in,
As they were drinking all.
See! see! (I cried) she tacks no more!
Hither to work us weal;
Without a breeze, without a tide,
She steadies with upright keel!
The western wave was all a-flame
The day was well nigh done!
Almost upon the western wave
Rested the broad bright Sun;
When that strange shape drove suddenly
Betwixt us and the Sun.
And straight the Sun was flecked with bars,
(Heaven's Mother send us grace!)
As if through a dungeon-grate he peered,
With broad and burning face.
Alas! (thought I, and my heart beat loud)
How fast she nears and nears!
Are those her sails that glance in the Sun,
Like restless gossameres!
Are those her ribs through which the Sun
Did peer, as through a grate?
And is that Woman all her crew?
Is that a DEATH? and are there two?
Is DEATH that woman's mate?
Her lips were red, her looks were free,
Her locks were yellow as gold:
Her skin was as white as leprosy,
The Night-Mare LIFE-IN-DEATH was she,
Who thicks man's blood with cold.
The naked hulk alongside came,
And the twain were casting dice;
"The game is done! I've won! I've won!"
Quoth she, and whistles thrice.
The Sun's rim dips; the stars rush out:
At one stride comes the dark;
With far-heard whisper, o'er the sea.
Off shot the spectre-bark.
The bolded and underlined lines contain examples of which literary devices?
Simile
Metaphor
Repetition and personification
Repetition only
Repetition and personification
This question asks you to analyze a selection of the text, and to apply your knowledge of basic literary terms to that selection.
Firstly, let's make sure we have properly defined all of these literary devices. "Repetition" simply refers to repeating a given word, phrase, or construction for effect. A "metaphor" is a word or idea that is used to have a non-literal meaning. For instance, a rose can metaphorically stand for love. A "simile" is a comparison made between two things or people using "like" or "as." It might be helpful to think of a metaphor as such a structure without the "like" or "as."
"I am as beautiful as a day-old clump of barely-mashed potatoes," is a simile. "I am a beautiful day-old clump of barely-mashed potatoes," is a metaphor (assuming the speaker is not, in fact, an aged collection of inexpertly mashed potatoes).
"Personification" occurs when you ascribe human characteristics to an animal or inanimate object. "My malevolent desk chair," is an example of personification, because desk chairs don't have feelings or thoughts (or, at least, none that they've let us know about yet).
Now, let's examine the two lines specified in the question to see which of these devices appear.
"A weary time! a weary time!
How glazed each weary eye,"
Because we, as test-takers, are strategically as well as literarily-minded, we will start by scanning these two lines for the words "like" or "as," and, not seeing them, we will swiftly increase our odds of answering the question correctly by 25% by eliminating the "simile" answer option.
Now that we've started with something we did not see in the lines, what is that we do see? Hey! it looks like there are three uses of the word "weary," which, in the space of two lines, is certainly an ample amount to justify the label of a repetition. Since the repetition is undeniably there, we can swiftly eliminate the "metaphor" option, since it does not contain a mention of this technique.
So, now all we have to do is read these two lines carefully to establish whether or not a personification also occurs, or if the only device present is the repetition we just discovered. Can "time" be "weary"? Feeling "weary" is a human emotion. Time can never feel weary because it can never feel, even as it marches unceasingly into the infinity of a universe too vast, beautiful, and multi-dimensional to ever traverse.
The correct answer is "repetition and personification."
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