dilnansheen asked 7 years ago
Why do you think the poet has used the two adjectives ‘bleak’ and ‘bitter’ to describe the cold in the first stanza of the poem The Cold Within? What figure of speech is used in the line?
In the poem ‘the cold within’ ,the bleak and bitter cold is used to explain the severe cold outside and it also means the grudge and hatred inside the persons which is severe than the outside cold which eventually brought deadth to them.
The figure of speech used here is alliteration.
The two adjectives ‘bleak’ and ‘bitter’ are employed to mean that it was severe cold and life was not possible without the warmth of fire. So, it was to create the sense of urgency or emergency that badly needed the men’s own contribution. But even in that situation, knowing that they would freeze to death once the fire dies out, no one came forward with his log of wood to save himself and others. Rather they chose to stick to their discriminatory attitude and prejudices at the cost of their own life. Understandably, the use of those two adjectives has made it possible to create the situation that the poet needed to deliver his message well. So, ‘Bleak and bitter cold’ symbolizes extreme situations of life when one cannot live alone and must leave one’s prejudices to help one another mutually.
The figure of speech used here is alliteration — repetition of “b” in bleak and bitter.