Use the passage from “The Cumberland” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to answer the question.Which lines from the beginning of this poem use figurative language to describe the strength of the attacking ship, the Merrimac?(1 point)Responses“We are not idle, but send her straight. / Defiance back in a full broadside!”“We are not idle, but send her straight. / Defiance back in a full broadside!”“Then far away to the south uprose / A little feather of snow-white smoke,”“Then far away to the south uprose / A little feather of snow-white smoke,”“As hail rebounds from a roof of slate, / Rebounds our heavier hail / From each iron scale / Of the monster’s hide.”“As hail rebounds from a roof of slate, / Rebounds our heavier hail / From each iron scale / Of the monster’s hide.”“At anchor in Hampton Roads we lay, / On board of the Cumberland, sloop-of-war;”

1 answer

The lines that use figurative language to describe the strength of the attacking ship, the Merrimac, are:

“As hail rebounds from a roof of slate, / Rebounds our heavier hail / From each iron scale / Of the monster’s hide.”

This passage uses simile by comparing the impact of the cannon fire to hail hitting a roof, emphasizing the strength and durability of the Merrimac with the metaphor of the "monster’s hide."