find a simile, metaphor, metonymy/synecdoche and stock phrases?

Question

Lady Alice

Lady Alice was sitting in her bower window,

At midnight mending her quoif; 

And there she saw as fine a corpse 

As ever she saw in her life. 

'What bear ye, what bear ye, ye six men tall? 

What bear ye on your shoulders?' 

'We bear the corpse of Giles Collins, 

An old and true lover of yours.' 

'O, lay him down gently, ye six men tall, 

All on the grass so green, 

And to-morrow when the sun goes down, 

Lady Alice a corpse shall be seen. 

'And bury me in Saint Mary's Church, 

All for my love so true; 

And make me a garland of marjoram, 

And of lemon thyme, and rue.' 

Giles Collins was buried all in the east, 

Lady Alice all in the west; 

And the roses that grew on Giles Collins's grave, 

They reached Lady Alice's breast. 

The priest of the parish he chanced to pass, 

And he severed those roses in twain. 

Sure never were seen such true lovers before, 

Nor e'er will there be again. 

Answer 1

You will probably notice a trend with other people on this platform where we refrain from giving the exact answer, so as to actually teach -- my apologies if this is unhelpful as a result.

The way to spot similes and metaphors is usually the same. Similes are intended to compare two unlike things with "like" or "as" (in usual cases, though there are some exceptions as long as the two things being compared are defined). Metaphors, while similar, do not require comparison, but rather figurative description. I'll use an example I found while doing some study:

"He was the west wind, wild and untamed."

As the subject and the "west wind" are made to be figuratively the same, it is a metaphor used to describe how truly "wild" the subject is.

If it were a simile, it would read:

"He was like the west wind, wild and untamed."

A person and the wind have nothing to do with one another, but there is a figurative quality that each has that can be "likened" with one another. So, it becomes a comparison.

Bear in mind, however, that this poem uses "as" in a very curious way. It will be up to you to determine whether or not that counts as a simile, but just ask yourself: "Is this comparing two unlike things?" If you think that is the case, then make your case for it in the assignment you were given.

A synecdoche is a type of metonymy that simply means that something is named differently from what it is supposed to be, while retaining the same meaning.

So (I'll give you this one), a "corpse" meaning the same thing as a "person" in the context of the poem would definitely count as a synecdoche.

A stock phrase is something of an idiomatic phrase; that is, it is a cliche, in some cases.

The last line sounds pretty "stock" poetry, so that could be an option. Though if anything else sounds familiar in the poem I would encourage you to investigate it.

I hope this helps.