Read these lines from Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself":
The last scud of day holds back for me,
It flings my likeness after the rest and true as any on the
shadow'd wilds,
It coaxes me to the vapor and the dusk.
I depart as air, I shake my white locks at the runaway sun,
I effuse my flesh in eddies, and drift it in lacy jags.
What is one purpose of the simile in this poem?
A.
To compare the speaker to a force of nature
B.
To link two unlike concepts: mountains and burial mounds
C.
To make an animal seem like a peer to the speaker
D.
To make a connection between the speaker and the reader
A. To compare the speaker to a force of nature
The answer is A. To compare the speaker to a force of nature.
To determine the purpose of the simile in Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself," let's analyze the lines you've provided:
"The last scud of day holds back for me,
It flings my likeness after the rest and true as any on the shadow'd wilds,
It coaxes me to the vapor and the dusk."
The simile in question compares the speaker to the last scud of day. By comparing themselves to this natural phenomenon, the speaker is emphasizing their connection to nature and the profound impact they have on the world around them. They suggest that they are just as true and essential as any other aspect of nature found in the "shadow'd wilds."
Given this analysis, the purpose of the simile is not to link two unlike concepts (option B), nor is it meant to make an animal seem like a peer to the speaker (option C). The simile also does not explicitly connect the speaker to the reader (option D). Thus, the most accurate answer is option A: to compare the speaker to a force of nature.