Question

Identify the literature term found in the following. Cobbler: 'A trade, sir, that I hope I may use, with a safe conscience, which is indeed, sir, a mender of bad soles.'

1) Pun
2) Metaphor
3) Couplet
4) Alliteration

Answer 1

The literary term demonstrated by the cobbler's statement about being 'a mender of bad soles' is a pun, which is word play based on the double meaning of 'soles' sounding like 'souls'.

Step-by-step explanation:

The literary term found in the statement 'A trade, sir, that I hope I may use, with a safe conscience, which is indeed, sir, a mender of bad soles.' is a pun. A pun is a form of word play that suggests two or more meanings by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or similar sounding words, which is intended to be humorous. In the given sentence, the pun is on the word 'soles' which sounds like 'souls' but actually refers to the bottom part of shoes that a cobbler repairs. Here we have a dual meaning, since the cobbler is talking both about repairing shoe soles but also suggests the fixing of 'souls', as in a moral sense, making it a clever play on words.