Read the following excerpt from shakespeare's "sonnet 73" and answer the question.

that time of year thou mayst in me behold
when yellow leaves, or none, or few do hang
upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang

which simile best restates the central metaphor of these lines?

a. winter choirs are like sweet birds, joyful and full of song.
b. winter limbs are like an empty choir, bare and silent.
c. yellow leaves are like the sun, alive and bright.
d. yellow leaves are like birds in winter, hibernating or dead.

B.Winter limbs are like an empty choir, bare and silent.

The excerpt from "Sonnet 73" does not have a positive connotation. There is nothing to indicate that things are positive, happy, alive, or bright. Therefore, options A and C are not valid choices. The question is about the central metaphors of the lines which means that the answer should be about the thing that is the focus of the lines. What is the focus? The yellow leaves or the winter limbs. The goal of describing the yellow leaves is to show how few there are on the winter limbs. The excerpt then goes on to describe the limbs shaking and comparing them to an empty choir because the birds have all flown south for winter.