Unseen Prose and Poetry
Read the passage below and answer the following questions
Marooned, Akpatse felt imprisoned. It was fifteen days since the storm. The flood waters were not receding; neither did Akpatse see any sign of help coming. Akpatse could not swim the expanse of flood waters. He meditated: when one looks upon the mountain for help and help comes from the Lord … where does the Lord sit – in the cloud or on the mountain, or in the valley?
Well, Akpatse looked for salvation in the distance, far across the ocean of flood – the intimidating expense of his great gaoler – up to where the sky and the lips of the flood waters met in a mocking kiss. He had forgotten the feeling of hunger but knew he did not have any energy. What a foolish thing to think! He had not had any food for days. True. But hunger never said hello from the hollow of his ‘person-tree’ as they say in his language. Akpatse saw no help coming.
A. allusion
B. irony
C. parallelism
D. antithesis
Correct Answer:
Option A – allusion
Explanation
An allusion is a reference, typically brief, to a person, place, thing, event, or other literary work with which the reader is presumably familiar. As a literary device, allusion allows a writer to compress a great deal of meaning and significance into a word or phrase. However, allusions are only effective to the extent that they are recognized and understood by the reader, and that they are properly inferred and interpreted by the reader.
