Question

How does the poet’s simile comparing ""life’s ambitions"" and ""a faulty pilot light"" contribute to the central idea of the poem?

Answer 1

Answer:

Both eventually come to an end or die.

Explanation:

"The Coming Of  Night" is a poem written by Linda Pastan. The poem is about how the speaker accepts the inevitability  of death. The them of the poem is death.

A simile is a rhetoric device thaat is used to compare two unlike things or objects or ideas.

In the poem, Pastan has compared the ambition with the 'pilot light.' It is important to know that the 'pilot light' is an important instrument to run an appliance. So, by comparing life's ambition with 'pilot light', the poet is making a point that just like the pilot light is vital to run appliances, ambitions are important to run a life. Which means that the poet is conveying a message that a life without an ambition is likely to end just as a 'faulty pilot light' will come to an end.  

This comparison helps in the contribution to the central idea oof how life slowly ends without an ambition, just like a faulty pilot light.