For the first one:
B.) Historical documents, eyewitness accounts, etc. that provide direct or firsthand evidence about an event, object, person, or work of art.
For the second one:
B.) Her mother stared at her (because "stared" sounds more threatening than "looked").
Hope this helps!
I read an analysis of the poem "Afterwards" by Thomas Hardy.
Euphemism is defined as the use of an indirect word or expression as a substitute of the actual word or expression that is either too harsh or blunt when referring to something embarrassing or extremely unpleasant.
Afterwards is used as a euphemism for death. Each stanza refers to the narrator dying in a certain season or time. 1st stanza deals with dying during the month of May and spring time. 2nd Stanza deals with dying on an autumn season. 3rd stanza deals with dying on a summer night. 4th stanza deals with dying on a winter night. 5th stanza deals with the funeral of the person.
Death is a very unpleasant topic to talk about and in the poem, it is being discussed in line with nature and its seasons. The poem uses metaphors and personification to make the subject more relatable to the readers and to enable the readers to appreciate the beauty of death without fearing it.
In “The Devil and Tom Walker” Irving is saying that the values in American society lie in the wrong place chosing wealth and financial prosperity over the well-being of others.
Irving sees America becoming greedy and warns the reader not to follow Tom Walkers ´s path that led him to exchange his soul to the devil blinded by his ambition for money.
This statement reflects the popular themes of individualism in the romantic era. The American romantics believed that a man's choices decided his fate. Washington Irving shows how Tom chooses the wrong direction that led him astray from the true values of humanity.
