In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s poem, The Concord Hymn, he describes the beginning of the Revolutionary War. In these two lines, what figure of speech does he use?

“Here once the embattled farmers stood And fired the shot heard round the world.”

personification
hyperbole
simile
alliteration

Question

In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s poem, The Concord Hymn, he describes the beginning of the Revolutionary War. In these two lines, what figure of speech does he use?

“Here once the embattled farmers stood And fired the shot heard round the world.”

 personification
 hyperbole
 simile
 alliteration

ellecullen · Answer

Look at the sentence carefully, do you see any words "like" or "as"? No. Remember a simile uses the words "like" or "as". Remember, personification is giving human attributes to non-humans. Hyperbole is intentional exaggeration for effect- overstatement.