In Eliot's "Journey of the Magi", "six hands at an open door" is an example of

1. Analyze the question The line "six hands at an open door" comes from the "Journey of the Magi" (T.S. Eliot), in the Birth/Calvary imagery of the poem's middle section: "Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley... a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel, six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver." We need to name the figure of speech.

2. Explain the concept

• Synecdoche: a part stands for the whole (e.g., "all hands on deck" means all sailors).
• Metonymy: something is represented by a closely associated thing, not a part of it (e.g., "the crown" for the king).
• Irony: a contrast between expectation and reality.
• Alliteration: repetition of initial consonant sounds.

3. Solution

• "Six hands" refers to people, probably three men, since each has two hands. The hands are a part of the persons, and the part represents the whole persons.
• That is a part-for-whole substitution, which is synecdoche.
• Is it metonymy? Hands are not merely associated with the men; they are physically part of them. So it is synecdoche, though some critics loosely call such cases metonymy. In strict terms, it is synecdoche.
• Alliteration? The words "six hands at an open door" do not repeat initial sounds in a meaningful way.
• Irony? Not the main device here, although the dicing for silver foreshadows the soldiers gambling at the Crucifixion, which is symbolism or foreshadowing.

4. Answer The correct option is A. synecdoche.

5. Tip Ask yourself: "Is it a part of the thing, or something merely linked to it?" If it is a part (hands, heads, sails, wheels), choose synecdoche. If it is a linked object (crown, the press, the White House), choose metonymy.