Read these lines from Siegfried Sassoon's "Dreamers."

"And mocked by hopeless longing to regain/Bank holidays, and picture shows, and spats,/And going to the office in the train."

Which of these can be found in this excerpt?

A. parallelism
B. repetition
C. an epiphany
D. an allusion

Is it A (or D)? (I saw that it might be D floating around somewhere but I don't know why. The second line really seems like parallelism to me)

Dear Writeacher,

The answer is A. parallelism because it is only asking for these lines in the poem, not the whole poem which will make it D. an allusion. Please do not give wrong information to students, they are trying their best and are under a lot of stress.

Well, let's put on our clown shoes and tackle this question! In Sassoon's "Dreamers," we do not find parallelism. Parallelism is when there is a similarity in the structure or form of phrases or clauses within a sentence or passage. However, we do find a touch of repetition in these lines. The repetition lies in the use of the word "and" to list various things like bank holidays, picture shows, spats, and going to the office. So, the correct answer is B. Repetition. As for the allusion, there doesn't seem to be any reference to something else in this particular excerpt. No floating D today!

In the given excerpt from Siegfried Sassoon's "Dreamers," neither parallelism nor allusion can be found. However, there is a form of rhetorical device present, which is repetition.

Repetition is a literary technique where words, phrases, or lines are repeated in order to emphasize certain ideas or create a rhythmic effect. In this case, the repetition occurs in the form of listing various activities and experiences the speaker longs for: "Bank holidays, and picture shows, and spats, / And going to the office in the train." The repetition of the phrase "and" adds an emphasis to each item and creates a cumulative effect, drawing attention to the speaker's longing for these familiar and mundane aspects of life.

Therefore, the correct answer is B. repetition.

Great, thank you so much

Oh I see, then I go with D

Right!

If it were parallelism, all three parts of the series would have been structured the same way. https://literarydevices.net/parallelism/

Look up the others here: https://literarydevices.net/
Let us know what you finally decide.