Question

What type of figurative language is used in this sentence from James Joyce's "The Dead"? His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling. Choices I have are (A.) metaphor (B.) alliteration (C.) hyperbole (D.) euphemism

Answer 1

This sentence clearly uses (B) alliteration.

Alliteration is when words starting with the same letter are put closely together, i.e. soul, swooned, slowly and falling, faintly.

Answer 2

The correct answer is B. alliteration.

Alliteration is a figure of speech where the same consonant is repeated in neighboring words. As you can see in the sentence above, consonants such as S and F are repeated throughout.

Metaphor is a symbolic comparison of two or more things; hyperbole is exaggeration; euphemism is the opposite of hyperbole - using milder language to refer to something.