Question

"The wind tapped like a tired man,

And like a host, "Come in,"
I boldly answered; entered then
My residence within

A rapid, footless guest,
To offer whom a chair
Were as impossible as hand
A sofa to the air.

No bone had he to bind him,
His speech was like the push
Of numerous humming-birds at once
From a superior bush.

His countenance a billow,
His fingers, if he pass,
Let go a music, as of tunes
Blown tremulous in glass.

He visited, still flitting;
Then, like a timid man,
Again he tapped—'t was flurriedly—
And I became alone."

Dickinson uses a simile in the first stanza of this poem to

A) describe the doorway of the house.
B) give the wind humanlike characteristics.
C) emphasize the destructive power of the wind.
D) describe the speaker of the poem.

Answer 1

The correct answer is B. Give the wind humanlike characteristics.

Explanation.

A simile is a literary device frequently used in poetry that is based on the comparison or similarity between two or more objects. This differs from the metaphor because it is simpler and more direct. Based on the above, it can be inferred that Dickinson is using the simile in the first stanza because she compares the wind with a human by assigning it specific characteristics such as "The wind tapped like a tired man, And like a host", and "Then, like a timid man". According to the above, the correct answer is B. Give the wind humanlike characteristics.