Question

Which figure of speech is used in the bolded line in the following excerpt from this poem by Robert Frost?

Answer 1

The answer is Metaphor.

Answer 2

Lets define our figures of speech!

〜 A simile is a sort of comparison made between two things using the words “like” or “as”.

〜 Personification is the act of giving an inanimate object or animal (any non-human entity) features, traits or abilities of a human.

〜 A metaphor is when a word or phrase is applied to an object or action in which the description is not to be taken literally (it is exaggerated).

〜 Onomatopoeia is the use of words that are intended to describe a sound (ie: “crash”, “bang” etc).

From your example; “Her early leaf’s a flower”, we can see what figure of speech is being used.

Simile
• Does it use “like” or “as” to describe an entity?
Clearly, our phrase uses neither of the above words to do the mentioned intention, so it cannot be a simile.

Personification
• Does it describe a non-human object or thing to have humanlike characteristics?
The phrase uses the noun “her” when referring to Mother Nature, which may count as personification.

Metaphor
• Does the phrase describe something in an exaggerated manner to which it is intended not to be taken literally?
The phrase claims that the “early leaf” IS a flower, which is likely not to be taken literally, but more of a symbolic way of describing beauty.

Onomatopoeia
• Does the phrase describe a sound in the text using a descriptive, spelled-out word such as “thud”?
No, the phrase has no form of sound.

From this brief analysis we can deduce that the phrase “her early leaf’s a flower” is a metaphor and uses some extent of personification.

Hope this helps! :)