no nightingale ever sang melodious welcome songs

to the group of tired travellers resting in shady places
in the desert of arabia

what is the poetic device used in comparing the reaper with the nightingale?

simile or metaphor ?

Metaphor in this stanza, he is comparing the maidens voice to a nightingale.

thanks

To determine whether the comparison between the reaper and the nightingale in the given lines is a simile or a metaphor, we need to understand the difference between the two.

A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two different things using the words "like" or "as." It establishes a resemblance or similarity between the two objects. For example, "He runs like the wind" is a simile because it compares the person's speed to that of the wind.

A metaphor, on the other hand, makes a direct comparison between two unlike things by stating that one thing is something else. It does not use "like" or "as." For example, "He is a lion in battle" is a metaphor because it compares the person's bravery and strength to that of a lion.

Looking at the line "no nightingale ever sang melodious welcome songs to the group of tired travellers resting in shady places in the desert of Arabia," we can see that there is no explicit use of "like" or "as" to indicate a simile. Instead, it states that "no nightingale ever sang melodious welcome songs to the group of tired travellers." This is an example of a metaphor because it directly compares the absence of nightingale songs to the situation of the tired travelers in the desert.

Therefore, the poetic device used in comparing the reaper with the nightingale is a metaphor.