Which rhetorical device, common in sonnets, involves an exaggerated, elaborate metaphor comparing a lover’s features to various objects?
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Correct answer: The Blazon
A blazon (or blason) systematically catalogues the beloved's physical attributes, comparing teeth to pearls, lips to cherries, etc. Shakespeare famously parodied this convention in Sonnet 130.
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More Sonnet Tradition questions
- To whom are the first 126 of Shakespeare's 154 sonnets primarily addressed?
- The later poems in Shakespeare's sequence (127–152) are addressed to a figure known as:
- Which of the following is a 'Procreation Sonnet'?
- Which poet's sonnet sequence is titled 'Amoretti'?
- Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, is credited with which major innovation in the English sonnet tradition?
- What is the standard meter of the English sonnet?