1 When the spirit swells my breast I 2 love to roam leisurely among the

3 green hills; or sometimes, sitting

4 on the brink of the murmuring

5 Missouri, I marvel at the great

6 blue overhead. With half-closed

7 eyes I watch the huge cloud

8 shadows in their noiseless play

9 upon the high bluffs opposite me,

10 while into my ear ripple the sweet,

11 soft cadences of the river’s song.

12 Folded hands lie in my lap, for

13 the time forgot. My heart and I

14 lie small upon the earth like a

15 grain of throbbing sand. Drifting

16 clouds and tinkling waters,

17 together with the warmth of a

18 genial summer day, bespeak

19 with eloquence the loving Mystery

20 round about us. During the idle

21 while I sat upon the sunny river

22 brink, I grew somewhat, though

23 my response be not so clearly

24 manifest as in the green grass

25 fringing the edge of the high

26 bluff back of me.

What dominant techniques is the speaker using in this passage to communicate his relationship with nature?

personification and imagery

alliteration and onomatopoeia

meiosis and hyperbole

logos and ethos