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WAEC SSCE - Literature In English - 1998 (Objective)

Question 1 Report

Read the following poem carefully and answer the questions that follow:
O stealing time, the subject of delay,
Delay the rack of unrefrained desire,
What strange design has thou my hopes to stay?
My hopes which do but to mine own aspire?

Old age is wise, and full of constant truth,
Old age well stayed from ranging humours lives,
Old age hath known, whatever was in youth,
Old age overcome the greater honour gives.

The literary device used in lines 3 and 4 of stanza 1 is
Answer Details
The literary device used in lines 3 and 4 of stanza 1 is a rhetorical question. The speaker is asking why time is delaying the fulfillment of his hopes, and implying that there is no good reason for this delay. The question is not meant to be answered, but to emphasize the speaker's frustration and impatience with the situation.
Read lesson note on Poetry (JAMB)
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