Heavenly Home: Figurative Language in Bradstreet's Poem

What type of figurative language is Bradstreet using in the selected lines from "Upon the Burning of Our House"?

A) Simile B) Metaphor or extended metaphor C) Personification D) All of the above

Answer:

The type of figurative language used in these lines is:

B) Metaphor or extended metaphor.

Explanation:

Metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things in order to attribute a quality of one of them to the other. An extended metaphor happens when such a comparison continues throughout a series of lines in a poem. In Bradstreet's poem, we have the extended metaphor in which Heaven is compared to a house and God to an architect. Since this comparison lasts for at least four lines, we can say it is an extended metaphor. Bradstreet wrote this poem after a fire destroyed her house and her belongings. What she means in these lines is that God has a better place waiting for her. Even though her home here on Earth has been destroyed, she has a permanent, strong home waiting for her. A home God Himself prepared for her.

Final answer:

The figurative language that Bradstreet uses in the selected lines from 'Upon the Burning of Our House' is Metaphor or extended metaphor, where she uses the comparison of a physical house to represent Heaven.

Explanation:

The type of figurative language that Bradstreet is using in these lines from 'Upon the Burning of Our House' is B) Metaphor or extended metaphor. Bradstreet refers to a 'house on high', which is a metaphor for Heaven, as created by the 'mighty Architect' - a term metaphorically used for God. The entire stanza essentially extends this metaphor, drawing a comparison between a physical house and the spiritual abode in Heaven.