Q120
Which figure of speech is there in ‘the flame feeding on my mother’ ?
- (1) Simile
- (2) Personification
- (3) Irony
- (4) Alliteration
CTET 1 Mar 2026 Paper 1 English, Question 120
Read the poem given below and answer the questions that follow (Q. Nos. 115 to 120) by selecting the correct/most appropriate options.
My mother twisted through and through
groaning on a mat
My father, sceptic, rationalist,
trying every curse and blessing,
powder, mixture, herb and hybrid.
He even poured a little paraffin
upon the bitten toe and put a match to it.
I watched the flame feeding on my mother
I watched the holy man perform the rites
to tame the poison with an incantation.
After twenty hours
it lost its sting.
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
My mother only said
Thank God the scorpion picked on me
and spared my children.
Solution.
CBSE answer: (2)
Answer: (2) Personification
- 'Feeding' is an action of living beings.
- The flame is shown as if it were a hungry creature eating the mother's toe.
- Giving human or living qualities to a non-living thing is personification.
Trap: there is no 'like' or 'as', so it is not a simile, and no repeated opening sound, so it is not alliteration.