Which of the terms identifies the type of imagery in the following sentence portion by Toni Morrison?
1. "The clouds gathered together, stood still and watched the river scuttle around the forest floor, crash headlong into the haunches of hills with no notion of where it was going ..."
A. personification
B. metaphor
C. simile
D. point of view
I think it's A?
Right!
thanks!
To identify the type of imagery in this sentence portion by Toni Morrison, we need to analyze the language used and assess its intended meaning. Imagery is the use of descriptive language that appeals to the senses to create a vivid mental picture or evoke emotions in the reader.
In this sentence portion, the phrase "The clouds gathered together, stood still and watched the river scuttle around the forest floor, crash headlong into the haunches of hills with no notion of where it was going ..." contains figurative language that provides a vivid and imaginative description of the clouds and the river.
The term "personification" refers to the attribution of human characteristics to non-human entities. In this sentence portion, the clouds are described as gathering, standing still, and watching, while the river is described as scuttling and crashing into the hills. These actions and behaviors are typically associated with humans, suggesting that the clouds and river are personified. Therefore, the correct answer is indeed A. personification.
If you were unsure about the answer, you could have also analyzed the other options to eliminate them:
- Metaphor (B): A metaphor is a figure of speech that directly compares two unrelated things without using "like" or "as." Since there is no explicit comparison between two different things in this sentence portion, we can eliminate metaphor as the answer.
- Simile (C): A simile is a figure of speech that compares two different things using "like" or "as." Since there is no explicit comparison using "like" or "as" in this sentence portion, we can eliminate simile as the answer.
- Point of view (D): Point of view refers to the perspective from which a story is narrated. However, the sentence portion provided does not give any indication of the point of view being used. Therefore, we can eliminate point of view as the answer.
In conclusion, the correct answer is A. personification.