The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet Exam Which literary device is used in the following quotation? MERCUTIO: "He heareth not, he stireth not he moveth not..." (2.1.18) metaphor parallelism personification simile

The quotation from Mercutio in "Romeo and Juliet" is "He heareth not, he stirreth not, he moveth not...". This sentence is an example of parallelism. Parallelism is a literary device where parts of the sentence are grammatically the same, or similar in construction. It can be a word, a phrase, or an entire sentence repeated. In this case, the repetition of the structure "he [verb] not" creates a parallel structure, emphasizing the inactivity of the person being described. The other options are not applicable: a metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two things without using "like" or "as", a simile is a comparison using "like" or "as", and personification is when non-human things are given human characteristics. This sentence does not fit any of those definitions.