X. CLOSE READING (Concluded) 256 The Author 257 Sentences 258 Figures of Speech 259 Allusions 259 Basis of Figures 262 Simile 263 Metaphor 264 Synecdoche and Metonymy 265 Apostrophe and Personification 266 Studies in Figures 268 _Ode to a Skylark_ 268 _A Visit from Saint Nicholas_ 270 _The First Snowfall_ 270 XI. READING POETRY 272 _The Reaper and the Flowers_ 272 _The Brown Thrush_ 276 _The Child's World_ 277 _Seven Times One_ 278 _The First Snowfall_ 281 _The Potato_ 285 _Origin of the Opal_ 285 _The Barefoot Boy_ 286 _The Bugle Song_ 287 _The Petrified Fern_ 291 _The Forsaken Merman_ 295 _The Cloud_ 301 _Ode to a Skylark_ 306 XII. READING ALOUD 311 Articulation and Enunciation 311 Emphasis and Inflection 312 Emotional States 312 Pitch 312 Rate or Time 313 Quality 315 Force 315