Read the excerpt below from the poem “I Knew a Woman” by Theodore Roethke and answer the question that follows. Let seed be gras
s, 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:”
The answer is: “These old bones live to learn her wanton ways:”
Metonymy occurs when an idea is referred to by the name of something closely associated with it.
In the poem "I Knew a Woman," the author Theodore Roethke directs attention to his lover and is determined to give in anything for her. In that respect, he makes use of the phrase "old bones" to mean that his own body will live for her naughty behavior.
