The nose to direct (metaphor)
In the very beginning, the narrator assumes that there is no person who would know Moscow and its environs. He always liked to wander in the fields, through meadows and glades, and there was no purpose for these wanderings; the narrator went “wherever his nose led”.
When even nature grieves (Metaphor)
There is an allusion to an awful outbreak of plague in 1771, and after that Simonov monastery was uninhabited. When the narrator walks in this area, he hears “the winds moan frightfully in the walls of the deserted monastery; the dead moaning of times devoured in the abyss of the past”. Such a tragedy does not sink into oblivion.
A worrying mother (metaphor)
Mothers are the only people in the world who always worry about their children, and it does not matter if there is or there no purpose for it. Liza’s mother says her: “my heart is always in my throat when you go into the city”, with these words she expresses how dear her daughter is for her.
An ill-fated city (Simile)
The thoughts of the narrator turn back to the times when Moscow was attacked by enemies – Tatars and Lithuanians; there were many who wanted to rob and conquer it, and at those times “hapless Moscow, like a defenseless widow, looked to God alone for aid in her bitter misfortunes”. But even being “a defenseless widow,” the city managed to become one of the mighty in the world.
Blushing (simile)
When Liza heard that the young man would stop by time after time and buy her flowers, she could not hide her joy: “her cheeks flamed up like the sunset on a clear summer evening”.
Sadness in the eyes (simile)
Liza fell in love. Such a state is supposed that love brings joy and happiness, but Liza stays despondent and sad. Before “ she was gay along with the birds in the morning, and her pure, joyous soul shone in her eyes just as the sun shines in the drops of heavenly dew”. But with the arrival of love, Liza’s mood and behavior have changed.
