AP English Literature and Composition 1.1 Passage Drill 1

devices it's throwing at us.

Or... at least the one being used here... First let's zero in on the lines in question...

Lines 31 through 37.

So it's all the "happy this, happy that" silliness. Now... what device is being used here?

Let's take 'em one by one.

A -- Ellipsis. An ellipsis isn't just a noncommittal way to finish a sentence in an email.

In a narrative, it usually replaces a word or event that’s implied by the surrounding

text, and can be just a single dot rather than three.

We don't see any place in these lines where dots are being used to replace an event...

so let's nix A. B -- Parallelism. Ooh -- could be.

The speaker is talking about how the nation is happy, and then how the people are happy, and then

how the struldbrugs are happy... whatever they are.

Forgive us for jumping subjects for a moment here, but... remember parallel lines in algebra?

Each is its own line,

but each is oriented similarly to every other line that is parallel to it.

Same thing when talking about parallelism in literature. So B is a definite contender.

What about C -- Metaphor? A metaphor is a kind of comparison...

...and while you could compare each of the things the speaker is calling happy...

...he isn't doing any comparing himself. So it can't be C.

D -- Metonymy is out, too, because nothing in this part of the passage is being referred

to by something closely associated with it.

And E -- Alliteration -- can get scratched as well.

Alliteration is the repeating of sounds at the beginning of words... and we don't have

that here. Shucks... sure is a shame, Shmoopers. Get it?

So B -- parallelism -- that's our guy.

Sorry... we'll try to go a few more problems without bringing up algebra again.