Figurative Language in "The Gift of the Magi"

Front

Identify the literary device: "So now Della's beautiful hair fell about her rippling and shining like a cascade of brown waters."

Back

simile

Answer explanation

Della's hair is being compared to a waterfall.

Front

It reached below her knee and made itself almost a garment for her.

Back

metaphor

Answer explanation

This metaphor emphasizes the thickness and length of Della's hair. She could practically wear it like a garment.

Front

Identify the literary device: "For there lay The Combs-- the set of combs, side and back, that Della had worshipped for long in a Broadway window."

Back

hyperbole

Front

Identify the figure of speech: "Within forty minutes her head was covered with tiny, close-lying curls that made her look wonderfully like a truant schoolboy."

Back

simile

Front

Isn't a dandy, Jim? I hunted all over town to find it. You'll have to look at the time a hundred times a day now.

Back

hyperbole

Front

Identify the figure of speech: "Oh, and the next two hours tripped by on rosy wings."

Back

personification

Answer explanation

This is similar to saying, "Time flies when you're having fun." Time went by quickly because Della was having so much fun shopping for Jim's present.

Front

What figure of speech is used in: "She was ransacking the stores for Jim's present."?

Back

hyperbole

Answer explanation

Della was not literally destroying the stores; she was simply looking everywhere for the perfect gift for Jim.

Front

Identify the figure of speech: Jim stopped inside the door, as immovable as a setter at the scent of quail.

Back

simile

Answer explanation

Jim is being compared to a hunting dog. A hunting dog stands still when it catches the scent of its prey. Jim was so shocked when he saw Della's hair that he stood as still as a setter, a hunting dog.

Front

Identify the literary device: "They were expensive combs, she knew, and her heart had simply craved and yearned over them without the least hope of possession."

Back

personification

Front

Identify the literary device: "She had turned all of them inside out."

Back

hyperbole