Question

read the excerpt below from autumn song by w. h. auden and then answer the question.

excerpt:

ow the leaves are falling fast,
nurses flowers will not last,
nurses to their graves are gone\

which literary device does auden use to enhance his poem?

alliteration
oxymoron
hyperbole

Explanation:

🆕 New Concept Discovered: Identification of Literary Devices
Recognizing sound patterns and figurative language in poetry.

Step 1: Analyze the excerpt for sound patterns

Let's read the lines of the poem closely to see if there are repeating consonant sounds at the beginning of neighboring words:

"Now the leaves are falling fast,

Nurse's flowers will not last,

Nurses to their graves are gone"

In the first line, we see the repetition of the \( \text{/f/} \) sound in "falling fast".
In the second line, we see the repetition of the \( \text{/n/} \) sound in "Nurse's" and "not", as well as the \( \text{/f/} \) sound in "flowers".
In the third line, the \( \text{/n/} \) sound repeats in "Nurses".

This repetition of initial consonant sounds in closely positioned words is known as alliteration.

Step 2: Evaluate the other options

• Oxymoron: This is a figure of speech that pairs two opposing or contradictory terms (like "deafening silence" or "cruel kindness"). There are no contradictory word pairs in this excerpt.
• Hyperbole: This is an extreme exaggeration used to make a point (like "I've told you a million times"). The lines describe autumn, falling leaves, and mortality in a somber, symbolic way, but they do not rely on obvious, exaggerated overstatements.

Therefore, the prominent literary device used here is alliteration.

Answer:

Alliteration