Final answer:
The stanza from 'I Am Not Yours' by Sara Teasdale uses a simile, which compares two unlike things using 'like' or 'as.' This comparison helps express the speaker's desire to be completely immersed in something else, similar to a candle lit at noon or a snowflake in the sea. The correct answer is option (b).
Step-by-step explanation:
Finding Figurative Language in Poetry
The stanza from I Am Not Yours by Sara Teasdale utilizes figurative language, specifically a simile, to draw a comparison between two unlike things using the words 'like' or 'as.' In the lines:
'Lost as a candle lit at noon,
Lost as a snowflake in the sea,'
the words 'as' are used to compare being lost within someone to a candle that is lit during the brightest time of the day and a snowflake that dissolves in the vastness of the sea. The comparisons express the speaker's desire to become indistinguishably part of the other person or the environment, a wish for an all-consuming union. However, it's also essential to understand not just the devices, but the deeper meanings and emotions they convey, as in the poem by Wordsworth where the speaker compares himself to a cloud, illustrating a sense of solitude and reconnection with nature. Examining how poets like Whitman express themselves, as seen in Song of Myself, we discover the rich layers of meaning often bundled into poetry.
The correct option for the type of figurative language used in the stanza is simile (option b).