Question

I cannot send you one single flower from this
wealth of the spring, one single streak of gold
from yonder clouds.

Open your doors and look abroad.

From your blossoming garden gather fragrant
memories of the vanished flowers of an
hundred years before.

–“85,”
Rabindranath Tagore

What type of figurative language is used in the line "one single streak of gold from yonder clouds,” and what is its effect?

It is a metaphor that compares sunlight to gold.
It is personification that makes the clouds seem wealthy.
It is a metaphor that compares a streak with clouds.
It is personification that makes streaks seem alive with gold.

Answer 1

It is a metaphor that compares sunlight to gold.

Effect: calling the sunbeam a "streak of gold" makes the light seem precious, warm, and richly beautiful, emphasizing the speaker’s longing and the value of even a tiny gift from nature.