Question

Let seed be grass, and grass turn into hay: I’m martyr to a motion not my own; What’s freedom for? To know eternity. I swear she cast a shadow white as stone. But who would count eternity in days? These old bones live to learn her wanton ways: (I measure time by how a body sways). Source: Roethke, Theodore. “I Knew a Woman.” The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke. New York: Random House Inc., 1961. Poetry Foundation. Web. 9 June 2011. Which line is an example of the poetic technique metonymy? “Let seed be grass, and grass turn into hay:” “I’m martyr to a motion not my own;” “I swear she cast a shadow white as stone.” “These old bones live to learn her wanton ways:”

Answer 1

Metonymy is a figure of speech in which parts of something are used to represent its entirety.
Having that in mind, the correct answer is “These old bones live to learn her wanton ways:”
Bones are used to represent an entire person.