Question

Which of the following excerpts from Hardy's "The Three Strangers" provides the best example of the author's use of imagery through an onomatopoetic device? A. "… the lesser strains of the fiddler reached the spot as an accompaniment to the surging hiss of the flying rain …" B. "The lights were scattered about the room, two of them standing on the chimney-piece." C. "This cessation of activity aroused the solitary pedestrian from the reverie into which he had lapsed, …" D. "… blazed a fire of thorns, that crackled 'like the laughter of a fool.'" "The Three Strangers," Thomas Hardy, 1883

Answer 1

Both "crackle" and "hiss" are onomatopoetic.

Answer D is the best example of imagery through onomatopoeia. In this description, the reader can easily imagine the fire's appearance and sound.

Answer A. uses onomatopoeia, but not as well as in Answer D.

Answer 2

The answer to this question is A). "...the lesser strains of the fiddler reached the spot as an accompaniment to the surging hiss of the flying rain..."

I got this question correct on the test.