UNSEEN PROSE AND POETRY
Read the passage and answer the question
Here in the station, it is in no way different save that the city is busy in its snow. But the old men cling to their seats as though they were symbolic and could not be given up. Now and then they sleep, their grey old heads resting with painful awkwardness on the backs of the benches.
Also, they are not at rest. For an hour, they may sleep in the gasping exhaustion of the ill-nourished and aged, who have to walk in the night. Then, a policeman comes by on his round and nudges them upright.
”You can’t sleep here”, he growls.
A strange ritual then begins. An old man is difficult to wake. One man after a slight lurch does not move at all, he sleeps on steadily. Once in a while, one of the sleepers will not wake; he will have had his wish to die in the great droning centre of the hive rather than in some lonely room fulfilled.
”….on the backs of the benches” illustrates
- synecdoche
- epithet
- assonance
-
personification
The correct answer is: D
Explanation
The phrase "on the backs of the benches" involves personification. Personification is a literary device in which human qualities are attributed to non-human entities or objects. In this context, the phrase suggests that the benches have backs, which is a human characteristic. In reality, benches don't have literal backs as humans do, but the author uses personification to describe them as if they possess such features. This figurative language helps convey a vivid image of the scene and adds depth to the description of the old men sleeping in the station.