Question at position 4 What poetic device is Langston Hughes using in the following lines? What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? rhymemetaphoronomatopoeiasimilepersonification

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Question at position 4 What poetic device is Langston Hughes using in the following lines? What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? rhymemetaphoronomatopoeiasimilepersonification

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

The prompt asks us to identify the poetic device Langston Hughes uses in the lines about a dream deferred, specifically: 'Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?' and the surrounding context.
Option: rhyme. Rhyming involves matching sounds at the ends of lines or within lines. In the given lines, there isn’t a pattern of end rhymes or rhyming words forming a sequence, so this option doesn’t fit.
Option: metaphor. A metaphor makes an explicit comparison between two unlike things without using 'like' or 'as.' While the poem as a whole conveys a metaphorical idea about deferred dreams, the explicit device in 'dry up like a raisin in the sun' uses 'like,' which signals a different figure of speech. So this isn’t the best fit for the specific line.
Option: onomatopoeia. Onomatopoeia involves words that imitate sounds (like buzz, hiss). The lines in question do not produce or imitate sounds, so this option is not applicable.
Option: simile. A simile draws a comparison using words such as 'like' or 'as.' The line 'Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?' directly uses 'like,' making a direct comparison between a deferred dream and a raisin, which is the classic hallmark of a simile. This aligns precisely with the device in question.
Option: personification. Personification gives human traits to nonhuman things. While the poem personifies a dream in a broader sense, the specific line with 'like a raisin in the sun' is not presenting the dream as having human attributes; it’s comparing its fate to a raisin. Thus, this is not the best description of the device used in that line.
In summary, the line explicitly employs a simile by comparing the fate of a deferred dream to a raisin using the word 'like,' and the other options do not accurately describe this particular figure of speech. The broader poem may contain other figures of speech, but the key device in this line is best identified as a simile.

Question at position 4 What poetic device is Langston Hughes using in the following lines? What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? rhymemetaphoronomatopoeiasimilepersonification

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