Imagery & comparison

A comparison that says one thing *is* another — ‘the classroom was a zoo.’

A comparison using ‘like’ or ‘as’ — ‘quiet as a held breath.’

Metaphor says X IS Y; simile says X is LIKE Y — the ‘like’/‘as’ is the giveaway.

Look for the words ‘like’ or ‘as’ joining two things.

It presses the two things together as one, with no ‘like’ to hold them apart.

Name the two things compared + the picture or feeling the link builds.

A metaphor — it says her eyes ARE oceans, no ‘like’.

A simile — the ‘as’ compares the two.

The real thing and the image it's compared to.

Naming ‘metaphor’ without saying the two things linked or the effect.

Giving human qualities to a thing, animal or idea — ‘the wind screamed.’

Using weather or nature to mirror a mood — ‘the sky wept as she left.’

Personification = any human quality on anything; pathetic fallacy = weather/nature matching a mood.

Look for a human action or feeling given to a non-human thing — ‘the fog crept’.

Weather or nature changes to match a character's feelings.

To make the setting carry a feeling and pull the reader into the mood.

Personification — dancing is a human action given to trees.

Pathetic fallacy — the storm mirrors the menace.

Name the human quality or matched mood + the feeling it builds.

Naming the technique without the feeling it creates.

Language that appeals to the senses to make a scene vivid.

Sight, sound, touch, smell and taste.

Words that make you hear it — ‘the gate shrieked’.

Words for how something feels — ‘the cold coin bit her palm’.

A sight image using colour — ‘the sky bruised purple’.

To put the reader inside a scene and make them feel it, not just read it.

Name the sense + quote the image + say what it makes you feel.

It makes a scene feel overwhelming and real — worth analysing.

Taste (with a hint of smell) — a body sense image.

Saying ‘vivid imagery’ without naming the sense or the feeling.

An object that stands for a bigger idea — a wilting flower for lost innocence.

An image that keeps coming back across a text, building meaning.

A symbol is what an object means; a motif is an image that recurs.

An ordinary object that clearly points to a bigger idea beyond itself.

The same image or object keeps returning through the text.

To carry a theme through an object, without stating it directly.

A lack of freedom, or feeling trapped.

It builds and ties a theme together across the whole text.

Name the object + the bigger idea it stands for + why it fits.

Spotting the object without saying what it means.