How to explain Literary devices

First
1. Identify the device. State the purpose of the device

2. Explain the imagery that it relates to
state the purpose of the device ( create rhythm, intensify mood or enhance meaning)

3. Explain if you think it is a realistic or meaningful comparison.

Example;

You no see say blessings a shower like rain upon me
The 'mount a Jah Jah say dem cyaan stop me Tommy Lee Sparta

Which technique is being used? simile

 Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole

 How do you figure? (write sentence(s) explaining your answer)

The singer is professing gratitude that he is in receipt of positivity and is being enhanced by his God element. He also believes he is  being protected  by his creator. He uses a visual imagery ‘ showering down like rain’ to showcase how well blessed he is.

OR.

The singer establishes that he is unstoppable because he is being protected and cared for by his creator or God element. He uses the visual imagery to signal the extent of his blessings.

Please read the following tutorial

Devices That Create Rhythm

Let's start with some of the devices that can be used to create rhythm, including repetition, syllable variation, and rhyming.

In poetry, repetition is repeating words, phrases, or lines. For example, Edgar Allen Poe's poem 'The Bells' repeats the word 'bells.' By doing so, Poe creates a sing-song rhythm similar to that of bells ringing.

To the swinging and the ringing
of the bells, bells, bells--

Rhyming is another common poetic device used to create rhythm. There are several types of rhyming devices.

One example is a couplet, or two rhymed lines that are together and may or may not stand alone within a poem. Shakespeare's sonnets end in couplets, as in his Sonnet 29. Shakespeare's couplet below consists of two lines that have end rhyme because of the words 'brings' and 'kings.'

For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

Another example of rhyming in poetry is internal rhyme, which is a rhyme that typically occurs within the same line of poetry. Edgar Allen Poe's 'The Raven' uses internal rhyme with the words 'dreary' and 'weary':

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary

Unlike an internal rhyme, an end rhyme occurs when two words at the end of lines rhyme. Emily Dickinson's poem 'A Word' uses end rhyme by rhyming the words 'dead' and 'said' at the end of the lines.

A word is dead
When it is said

Devices That Enhance Meaning

There are many devices that can enhance the meaning of a poem. A simile is a comparison between two unlike things. Similes use the words 'like' or 'as.' A simile can get the reader to look at something in a different way. In 'Harlem,' Langston Hughes compares a dream deferred to a raisin using the word 'like.' His comparison encourages the reader to look at raisins and dreams postponed in a new way.

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun

In contrast to a simile, a metaphor is a comparison between two unlike things without using the words like or as. A metaphor uses the senses and compares two things in a meaningful way. John Donne's poem 'The Sun Rising' uses a powerful metaphor:

She is all states, and all princes, I.

Through this comparison, Donne is saying that his beloved is richer than all states, while he is richer than the princes because of their love, and he does not use 'like' or 'as' in his comparison.

Many poets also use a symbol, or an object that means more than itself and represents something else. In Robert Frost's poem 'The Road Not Taken,' he talks about deciding which path to take when coming to a fork in the road. The fork and the two routes that result symbolize choices in life, a specific decision that must be made, etc. So, the actual road that he describes represents something much greater that what it is.

Poets may also use imagery, or words to create an image in the reader's mind. Imagery is based on our five senses, though visual imagery is used the most. The images contribute to a poem's meaning. In William Wordsworth's poem 'I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,' his emotions build with the images he creates.

Devices That Intensify Mood

Some devices are used solely to intensify the mood of the poem. An example is a hyperbole, an exaggeration that is used for dramatic effect. John Donne uses hyperbole in his poem 'Song: Go and Catch a Falling Star.'

Ride ten thousand days and nights,
'Til age snow white hairs on thee,

Obviously, ten thousand days and nights might be a bit of an exaggeration (as is claiming that we'll be white-haired by the time the journey is over), but the point gets across: a long, long time will pass.

Onomatopoeia is another good example. This device uses words that resemble or imitate sounds. Words like 'bang' and 'boom' could add to the intensity of a poem as those sounds could be reminiscent of war or violence, whereas words/sounds like 'tweet' or 'purr' could add to a tranquil feeling within a poem about the calming effects of nature.

Personification, or giving a non-living thing qualities of something that is alive, can also magnify mood. If a poet describes the sun as 'angrily beating down on the people below,' negative feelings are heightened. But, if the poet says the 'sun smiled down on the people, gently warming them,' then positive feelings of contentment are conveyed through the use of personification. Of course, the sun can't actually beat down on people, but personifying it means the poet makes it behave like it's a living thing with a personality.

. Grade 11 activity

Please print and complete. 20% of your term's grade

Name: ______________________________

Figurative Language Worksheet 1

 Directions: Read the lines of poetry.  Slashes represent line breaks.  Figure out which technique is being used: simile, metaphor, hyperbole, or personification.  On the lines, explain how you figured out your answer.  It is possible that more than one technique is being used.  If you can, explain each.  

Example;

You no see say blessings a shower like rain upon me
The 'mount a Jah Jah say dem cyaan stop me Tommy Lee Sparta

Which technique is being used? simile

 Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole

 How do you figure? (write sentence(s) explaining your answer)

The singer is professing gratitude that he is in receipt of positivity and is being enhanced by his God element. He also believes he is  being protected  by his creator. He uses a visual imagery ‘ showering down like rain’ to showcase how well blessed he is.                            OR.

The singer establishes that he is unstoppable because he is being protected and cared for by his creator or God element. He uses the visual imagery to signal the extent of his blessings.

Activity

1. Cyan talk inna my face, say dem run place, a run dem run 'round that
Man a action pack, some boy only full of tough chat   Busy Signal

Which technique is being used?  _______________________________________________

                                                     Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole

How do you figure? (write a sentence explaining your answer) __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 2.  Mi full up a woman like mi name freezone
Some a dem brand new, some a dem a pree own Vybz Kartel

 Which technique is being used?  ___________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________ Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole

 How do you figure? (write a sentence explaining your answer) _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.

3.  Rather deh pon a hillside
'Cause the energy dem push bad Chronic Law

 Which technique is being used? 

__________________________________________________________________________________ Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole

 How do you figure? (write a sentence explaining your answer)

 4.  The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,       The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,

 Which technique is being used? ____________________________________________________

  Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole

 How do you figure? (write a sentence explaining your answer) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 5.  I do not care to talk to you although / Your speech evokes a thousand sympathies,

 Which technique is being used? ________________________________________________ Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole

 How do you figure? (write a sentence explaining your answer) ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6.  The sun was shining on the sea, / Shining with all his might:

 Which technique is being used? ______________________________________________________ Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole

 How do you figure? (write a sentence explaining your answer) ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 7.  The leaves are little yellow fish / swimming in the river. 

 Which technique is being used? _______________________________________________________ Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole

 How do you figure? (write a sentence explaining your answer)

8. A true me stay inna mi owna lane, inna mi owna game
So no guy cyaan style me
Stay inna mi owna lane, inna mi owna game      Teejay

 Which technique is being used? __________________________________________________________________________________ Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole

 How do you figure? (write a sentence explaining your answer)

9.  By the lakes that thus outspread / Their lone waters, lone and dead / Their sad waters, sad and chilly

 Which technique is being used? __________________________________________________________________________________ Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole

 How do you figure? (write a sentence explaining your answer)

10.  Fame is a bee. / It has a song -- / It has a sting --

 Which technique is being used? __________________________________________________________________________________ Simile, Metaphor, Personification, or Hyperbole

 How do you figure? (write a sentence explaining your answer)