Figurative Language within its Historical/Cultural Setting

"She told him she liked it well enough, though later, alone, she'd wept, thinking of her grandmother, who had died earlier in the year, and of the letter, forever hovering somewhere between India and America, containing the good name she'd chosen for Gogol."

The author uses figurative language in the sentence to reveal that -

• the letter failed to reach Ashima because it was lost in the mail

• Ashima was too upset to read the letter when it finally arrived

• the letter had expressed the last wish of Ashima's grandmother

• Ashima's grandmother had hoped that the letter would unite the two cultures.

But a BIRD that stalks down his narrow cage

Can seldom see through his bars of rage

His wings are clipped and his feet are tied

The caged bird sings with a fearful trill …

And his tune is heard on the distant hill for

The caged bird sings of freedom.

The preceding poem uses figurative language to -

• reference the sadness that Maya Angelou feels for a pet bird.

• compare the realities of an oppressed people to that of a caged bird.

• annunciate the importance of appreciating life's simple pleasures.

• relate a personal experience of being imprisoned.

The following is an example of what type of figurative language:

He was a roaring lion in anger, though now he is silent.

• Simile

• Idiom

• Metaphor

• Allusion

The following is an example of what type of figurative language?

The water was so cold, it burned his hands.

• Paradox

• Simile

• Metaphor

• Understatement